The Complete Works Of Swami Vivekananda Vol. 2, Ed. 14th

THE

COMPLETE WORKS

OF

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

Mayavati Memorial Edition

VOLUME II

ADVAITA ASHRAMA
5 Dehi Entally Road
Calcutta 700*014.

PMuhed ty
SwAMi Ananyanamda
PRBSIDBNT, AdVAITA AsHRAMA
Mayavati, Fithoraoarh, Himalayas

Fouriheenth Edition^ April 1958

Set in 10 on 12 pi Caledonia type
PRINTED BY OFFSET IN INDIA
BY S. DAS QUFTA AT SUN LITHOGRAPHING CO.
P 20. C.UT. ROAD, CALCUTTA 10

CONTENTS

Pace

WORK AND ITS SECRET 1

the powers of the mind 10

hints on practical spirituauty .... 24

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION 38

JNANA-YOGA

THE NECESSITY OF REUGION 57

THE REAL nXtURE OF MAN 70

MAYA AND ILLUSION 88

MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE CONCEPTION OF COD 105

MAYA AND FREEDOM 118

THE ABSOLUTE AND MANIFESTATION . ' . 130

GOD IN EVERYTHING 144

REAUSAHON 155

UNITY IN DIVERSITY . . . . ' .175

THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL 189

THE cosmos:

THE MACROCOSM ...... 203

THE MICROCOSM . 212

IMMORTALITY 226

THE ATMAN 238

THE ATMAN: ITS BONDAGE AND FREEDOM . . 254

THE REAL AND THE APPARENT MAN .... 263

PRACTICAL VEDANTA AND OTHER ‘LEC-
TURES

PRACTICAL VEDANTA: PART I .... 291

PRACTICAL VEDANTA: PART U . . . . 309

PRACTICAL VEDANTA: PART lU ^ . . . 328

PRACTICAL VEDANTA: PART IV . .341

THE WAY TO THE REAUSATION OF A UNIVERSAL

RELIGION 359

the ideal of a universal REUGION . .375

Vi

Pace

THE OPEN SECRET 397

THE WAY TO BLESSEDNESS ... 406

YAJNAVALKYA AND MAITREYI 416

SOUL^ NATURE^ AND COD . . . . 423

COSMOLOGY 432

A SIXJDY OF THE SANKIIYA PHILOSOPHY 442

SANKHYA AND VEDANTA 454

THE GOAL 463

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

DIVINITY OF MAN 477

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA ON INDIA ..... 479

RELIGIOUS HARMONY 482

FROM FAR OFF INDIA 484

THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF INDIA . . 488

THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA 490

SECTS AND DOCTRINES IN INDIA 491

LESS DOCTRINE AND MORE BREAD .... 492

THE RELIGION OF BUDDHA' 494

AI.L RELIGIONS ARE GOOD 497

THE HINDU VIEW OF LIFE 499

IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD 503

TRUE BUDDHISM 507

INDIA’S GIFT TO THE WORLD 510

CHILD WIDOWS OF INDIA 513

SOME CUSTOMS OF THE HINDUS . .515

INDEX 519

WORK AND ITS SECRET

(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 4, 1900)

One the greatest lessons 1 have learnt in my life
is to pay as much attention to the means of work as to
its end. He was a great man from whom I learnt it,
and his own life was a practical demonstration of this
great principle. I have been always learning great lessons
from that one principle, and it appears to me that all
the secret of success is there ; to pay as much attention
to the means as to the end.

Our great defect in life is that we are so much drawn
to the ideal, the goal is so much more enchanting, so
much more alluring, so much bigger in our merital
horizon, that we lose sight of the details altogether.

But whenever failure comes, if we analyse it critically,
in ninety*nine per cent of cases we shall find that it was
because we did not pay attention to the means. Proper
attention to the finishing, strengthening, of the means is
what we need. With the means all right, the end must
come. We £oig[et that it is the cause that produces the
effect ; the effect cannot come by itself ; and unless the
causes are exact, proper, and powerful, the effect will not
be produced. Once the ideal is chosen and the means
determined, we may almost 1^ go the^ ideal, because we
are sure it will be there, when the means are perfected.
When the cause is there, there is no more difficulty about
the effect, the effect is bound to come. If we take care of
the capse, the effect will take care of itself. The lealia-
tion of the ideal is the effect. The means are the cause:
attention to the means, therefore, is the great secret of life.
We also read this in the Gita and learn that we have to
work, constantly work with all our power ; to put our

SWAMl VXV£KANANDA*S WORKS

Z

whole mind in the work, whatever it be, that we are
doing. At the same time, we must not be attached.
That is to say, we must not be drawn away from the
work by anything else ; still, we must be able to quit
the work whenever we like.

If we examine our own lives, we find that the greatest
cause of sorrow is this: we take up something; and put
our whole eneigy on it— perhaps it is a failure and yet
we cannot give it up. We know that it b hurting us, that
any further clinging to it is simply bringing misery on us ;
still, we cannot tear ourselves away from it. The bee
came to sip the honey, but its feet studt to the honey-pot
and it could hot get away. Again and again, we are
finding ourselves in that state. That is the whole secret
of existence. Why are we here? We came here to sip
the honey, anc^ we find our hands and feet sticking to it.
We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to
enjoy ; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule ; we are
being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked.
All the time, we find that. And this comes into every
detail of our life. We are being worked upon by other
minds, and we are always struggling to work on other
minds. We want to enjoy the pleasures of life ; and they
eat into our vitals. We want to get everything from
nature, but we find in the long run that nature takes
everything from us — depletes us, and casts us aside.

Had it not been for this, life would have been all
sunshine. Never mind I With all its failures and suc-
cesses, witlf all its joys and sorrows, it can be one succes-
sion of sunshine, if only we are not caught.

That is the one cause of misery: we are attached,
we are being caught. Therefore says the Gita: Work
constantly ; work, but be not attached ; be not caught.
Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself
from everything, however beloved, however much the soul
might yearn for it, however great the pangs of misery

WORK ANID ITS «SCR£T

S

you fed if you were going to leave it ; still, reserve the
power of leaving it vdienever you want. The weak have
no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness
leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery,
physical and mental. Weakness is death. There are
hundreds of thousands of microbes surrounding us, but
they cannot harm us unless we become weak, until the
body is ready and predisposed to receive them. There
may be a million microbes of misery, floating about us.
Never mindt They dare not approach us, they have no
power to get a hold on us, until the mind is weakened.
This is the great fact: strength is life, weakness is death.
Strength is fdidty, life eternal, immortal : weakness is
constant strain and misery: weakness is death.

Attachment is the source of all our pleasures now.
We are attached to our friends, to our relatives ; we are
attached to our intellectual and spiritual works ; we are
attached to external objects, so that we get pleasure from
them. What, again, brings misery but this very attach*
ment? We have to detach ourselves to earn joy. If only
we had power to detach ourselves at will, there would not
be any misery. That man alone will be able to get the
best of nature, who, having the power of attaching himself
to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach
himself when he should do so. The difficulty is that there
must be as much power of attachment as that of detach-
ment. There are nien who are never attracted by any-
thing. They can never love, they are hard-hearted and
apathetic ; they escape most of the miseries of life. But
the wall never feels misery, the wall never loves, is never
hurt : but it is the wall, after all. Surely it is better to be
attached and caught, than to be a wall. Therefore the
man who never loves, who is hard and stony, escaping
most of the miseries of life, escapes also its joys. We do
not want that. That is weakness, that is death. That soul
has not been awakened that never feels weakness, never

4

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

feds misery. That is a callous state. We do not want
that.

At the same time, we not only want this mighty power
of love, this mighty power of attachment, the power of
throwing our whole soul upon a single object, losing our-
selves and letting ourselves be annihilated, as it were, for
other souls — ^which is the power of the gods— but we want
to be higher even than the gods. The perfect man can
put his whole soul upon that one point of love, yet he is
unattached. How comes this ? There is another secret
to learn.

The beggar is never happy. The beggar only gets a
dole with pity and scorn behind it, at least with the
thought behind that the beggar is a low object. He never
really enjoys what he gets.

We are all beggars. Whatever we do, we want a
return. We are all traders. We are traders in life, we
are traders in virtue, we are traders in religion. And alas!
we are also traders in love.

If you come to trade, if it is a question of give-and-
take, if it is a question of buy-and-sell, abide by the laws
of buying and selling. There is a bad time and there is a
good time ; there is a rise and a fall in prices: always you
expect the blow to come. It is like looking at the mirror.
Your face is reflected: you make a grimace — there is one
in the mirror ; if you laugh, the mirror laughs. This is
buying and selling, giving and taking.

We get caught. How? Not by what we give, but
by what we^ expect. We get misery in return for our love ;
not from the fact that we love, but from the fact that we
want love in return. There is no misery where there is no
want. Desire, want, is the father of all misery. Desires
are bound by the laws of success and failure. Desires
must bring misery.

The great secret of true success, of true happiness,
then, is this: the man who asks for no return, the perfectly

WORK AND ITS SECRET

5

un^fish man, is the most successful. It seems tQ be a
paradox. Do we not know that every man who is unselfish
in life gets cheated, gets hurt? Apparently, yes. "Christ
was unselfish, and yet he was crucified." True, but we
know that his unselfishness is the reason, the cause of a
great victory — the crowning of millions upon millions of
lives with the blessings of true success*

Ask nothing ; want nothing in return. Give what you
have to give ; it will come back to you — ^but do not think
of that now, it will come back multiplied a thousandfold
— ^but the attention must not be on that. Yet have the
power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the
whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give.
So, give willingly. Sooner or later you will have to give
up. You come into life to accumulate. With clenched
hands, you want to take. But nature puts a hand on your
throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it
or not, you have to give. The moment you say, "I will
not", the blow comes ; you are hurt. None is there but
will be compelled, in the long run, to give up everything.
And the more one struggles against this law, the more
miserable one feels. It is because we dare not give,
because we are not resigned enough to accede to this
grand demand of nature, that we are miserable. The
forest is gone, but we get heat in return. The sun is
taking up water from the ocean, to return it in showers.
You are a machine for taking and giving: you take, in
order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing^in return ; but the
more you give, the more will come to you. The quicker
you can empty the air out of this room, the quicker it will
be filled up by the external air ; and if you close all the
doors and every aperture, that which is within will
remain, but that which is outside will never come in, and
that which is within will stagnate, degenerate, and
become poisoned. A river is continually emptying itself
into the ocean and is continually filling up again. Bar

6

SWAMl VIVEKANANBA’S WORKS

not the exit into the ocean. Hie moment yott do that»
death seizes you.

Be, therefore, not a beggar ; be unattached. Tliis is
the most terrible task ttf life I You do not calculate the
dangers on the path. Even by intellectuaUy recognising
the difficulties, we really do not know them until we feel
them. From a distance we may get a general view of a
park: well, what of that? We f^ and really know it
when we are in it. Even if. our every attempt is a failure,
and we bleed and are tom asunder, yet, through all this,
we have to preserve our heart — ^we must assert our God-
head in the midst of all these diffidilties. Nature wants
us to react, to return blow for blow, cheating for cheating,
lie for lie, to hit back with all our might. Then it requires
a superdivine power not to hit back, to keep control, to
be unattached.

Every day we renew our determination to be un-
attached. We cast our eyes back and look at the past
objects of our love and attachment, and feel how every
one of them made us miserable. We went down into the
depths of despondency because of our 'love'* I We
found ourselves mere slaves in the hands of others, we
were dragged down and downl And we make a fresh
determination: "Henceforth, I will be master of mysdif ;
henceforth, I will have control over myself.” But the
time comes, and the same story once morel Again the
soul is caught and cannot get out. The bird is in a net,
stmggling and fluttering. This is our life.

I know the difficulties. Tremendous they are, and
ninety per cent of us become discouraged and lose heart,
and in our turn, often become pessimists and cease to
believe in sincerity, love, and all that is grand and noble.
So, we find men who in the freshness of their lives have
been forgiving, kind, simple, and guileless, become in old
age lying masks of men. Their minds are a mass of
, intricacy. There may be a good deal of external policy,

WORK Atm ITS SECRET 7

poo^blyir They m not hot-headed, they do not q>eak,
but it would be better for diem to do so ; their hearts are.
dead and« therefore, they do not apeak. They do not
curse, not become angry ; but it would be better for them
to be able to be angry, a thousand times better, to be
able to curse. They cannot. There is death in the
heart, for cold hands have seized u]K>n it, and it can no
more act, even to utter a curse, even to use a harsh
word.

All this we have to avoid: therefore I say, we require
superdivine power. Superhuman power is not strong
enough. Superdivine strength is the only way, the one
way out. By it alone we can pass through all these
intricacies, through these showers of miseries, unscathed.
We may be cut to pieces, tom asunder, yet our hearts
must grow nobler and nobler all the time.

It is very difficult, but we can overcome the difficulty
by constant practice. We must learn that nothing can
happen to us, unless we make ourselves susceptible to it.
I have just said, no disease can come to me until the body
is ready ; it does not depend alone on the germs, but
upon a certain predisposition which is already in the
body. We get oidy that for which we are fitted. Let us
give up our pride and understand this, that never is misery
undeserved. There never has been a blow undeserved ;
there never has been an evil for which I did not pave
the way with my own hands. We ought to know that.
Analyse yourselves and you will find that every blow
you have received, came to you because you prepared
yourselves for it. You did half, and the external world
did the other half; that is how the blow came. That
will sober us down. At the same time, from this very
analysis will come a note of hope, and the note of hope
is: *T have no control of the external world, but that
which is in me and nearer unto me, my own world, is in
my control. If the two together are required to make

8

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

a failure, if the two together are necessary to give me a
blow, I will not contribute the one which is in my keeping ;
and how then can the blow come? If I get real control
of myself, the blow will never come."

We are all the time, from our childhood, trying to
lay the blame upon something outside ourselves. We are
always standing up to set right other people, and not
ourselves. If we are miserable, we say, “Oh, the world
is a devil’s world.” We curse others and say, "What
infatuated fools I” But why should we be in such a
world, if we really are so good? If this is a devil’s world,
we must be devils also ; why else should we be here ?
"Oh, the people of the world are so selfish!” True
enough ,* but why should we be found in that company,
if we be better? Just think of that.

We only get what we deserve. It is a lie when we
say, the world is bad and we are good. It can never be
so. It is a terrible lie we tell ourselves.

This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not
to curse anything outside, not to lay the blame upon any
one outside, but be a man, stand up, lay the blame on
yourself. You will find, that is always true. Get hold
of yourself.

Is it not a shame that at one moment we talk so
much of our manhood, of our being gods — that we know
everything, we can do everything, we are blameless,
spotless, the most unselfish people in the world ; and at
the next moment a little stone hurts us, a little anger
from a fittle Jack wounds us — any fool in the street
makes "these gods” miserable! Should this be so if we
are such gods? Is it true that the world is to blame?
Could God, who is the purest and the noblest of souls,
be made miserable by any of our tricks? If you are so
unselfish, you are like God. What world can. hurt you?
You would go through the seventh hell unscathed,
untouched. But the very fact that you complain and

WORK AND ITS SECRET

9

want to lay the blame upon the external world shows
that you feel the external world — the very faa that you.
feel shows that you are not what you claim to be. You
only make your offence greater by heaping misery upon
misery, by imagining that the external world is hurting
you, and crying out, "'Oh^ this devil's world! This man
hurts me ; that man hurts me! " and so forth. It is adding
lies to misery.

We are to take care of ourselves — that much we can
do — and give up attending to others for a time. Let us
perfect the means ; the end will take care of itself. For
the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good
and pure. It is an effect, and we are the means. There-
fore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves
perfect.

THE POWERS OF THE MIND

(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 8, 1900)

All over the woiid there has been the belief in the
supernatural throughout the ages. All of us have beard
of extraordinary happenings, and many of us have had
some personal experience of them. I would rather intro-
duce the subject by telling you certain facts which have
come within my own experience. I once heard of a
man who, if any one went to him with questions in his
mind, would answer them immediately; and I was also
informed that he foretold events. I was curious and
went to see him with a few friends. We each had
something in our minds to adt, and, to avoid mistakes,
we wrote down our questions and put them in our
pockets. As soon as the man saw one of us, he
repeated our questions and gave the answers to them.
Then he wrote something on paper, which he folded up,
asked me to sign on the. back, and said, "Don’t look at
it ; put it in your podcet and keep it there till I ask for
it again.” And so on to each one of us. He next
told us about some events that would happen to us in
the future. Then he said, "Now, think of a word or
a sentence, from any language you like.” 1 thought of
a long senteiKe from Sanskrit, a language of which be
was entirely ignorant. "Now, take out the paper from
your pocket,” he said. The Sanskrit sentence was
written therel He had written it an hour before with the
remark, "In confirmatimi oi what I have written, this man
will think of this sentence.” It was correct. Another
of us who had been g^ven a nmilar paper which he had
signed and placed in his podtet, was also ad^ed to think
of a sentence. He thought of a sentence in Arabic, which

tHE FOWEKS Ot THE MIND

li

it wai atUl leas ponibk for tiie man to know ; it was tome
passage foent the Konm. And my friend found this,
wiittm down on the paper.

Anodier of us was a jdiysictan. He thought of a
sentence from a German medical book. It was writtoi
on his paper.

Several days later I went to this man again, thinking
pmsibly I had been deluded somehow before. I took
other friends, and on this occasion also he came out
wonderfully triumphant.

Another time I was in the city of Hyderabad in India,
and I was* told of a Brfthmin there who could produce
numbers of things from where, nobody knew. This man
was in business them; he was a respectable gendeman.
And I asked him to show me his tricks. It so happened
that this man had a fever, and in India there is a general
belief that if a holy man puts his hand on a sick man
he would.be well. Ihis Brahmin came to me and said,
"Sir, put your hand <m my head, so that my fever may
be cured.” I said, “Very good ; but you show me your
tricks.” He promised. I put my hand on his head as
desired, and later he came to fulfil his promise. He
had only a strip of cloth about his loins, we took off
everything else from him. I had a blanket which I gave
him to wrap round himself, because it was cold, and made
him sit in a comer. Twenty-five pain of eyes were looking
at him. And he said, “Now, look, write down anything
you want." We all wrote down names qf fruits that never
grew in that country, bunches grapes, oranges, and so
on. And we gave him those bits of paper. And there
came from under his blanket, bushels of grapes, oranges,
and so forth, so much that if all that fruit was weired,
it would have been twice as heavy as the man. He asked
us to eat the fniit. Scnne of us <d>jected, thinking it was
•hypnotism; but the.man began eating himself— so we all
ate. It was all rig^t.

Or-t

12

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

He o^ded by producing a mass of roses. Each
flower was perfect, with dew-drops on the petals, not ime
crushed, not one injured. And masses of them! Wlmn
1 asked the man for an explanation, he said, "It is all
sleight of hand.”

Whatever it was, it seemed to be impossible that it
could be sleight of hand merely. From whence could he
have got such large quantities of things?

Well, I saw many things like that. Going about India
you find hundreds of similar things in different places.
These are in every country. Even in this country you will
find some such wonderful things. Of course there is a
great deal of fraud, no doubt; but then, whenever you
see fraud, you have also to say that fraud is an imitation.
There must be some truth somewhere, that is being
imitated ; you cannot imitate nothing. Imitation must be
of something substantially true.

In very remote times in India, thousands of years ago,
these facts used to happen even more than they do today.
It seems to me that when a country becomes very thickly
populated, psychical power deteriorates. Given a vast
country thinly inhabited, there will, perhaps, be more of
psychical power there. These facts, the Hindus, being
analytically minded, took up and investigated. And they
came to certain remarkable conclusions ; that is, they
made a science of it. They found out that all these,
though extraordinary, are also natural ; there is nothing
supernatural. They are under laws just the same as any
other physical phenomenon. It is not a freak of nature that
a man is born with such powers. They can I)e systemati-
cally studied, practised, and acquired. This science they
call the science of Rija-Yoga. There are thousands
people who cultivate the study of this science, and for the
whole nation it has become a part of daily worship.

The conclusion they have reached is Uiat all these 4
extraordinary powers are in the mind of man. This mind

THE POWERS OF THE MIND IS

is 9^ part of th€ universal mind. Each rniiid is connected
with every other mind. And each mind, wherever it is
located, is in actual communication with the whole world.

Have you ever noticed the phenomenon that is called
thought’transference? A man here is thinking something,
and that thought is manifested in somebody else, in some
other place. With preparations — ^not by chance — a man
wants to send a thought to another mind at a distance, and
this other mind know^s that a thought is coming, and he
receives it i;xactly as it is sent out. Distance makes no
difference. The thought goes and reaches the other man,
and he understands it. If your mind were an isolated
something here, and my mind were an isolated something
there, and there were no connection between the two,
how would it be possible for my thought to reach you?
In the ordinary cases, it is not my thought that is reaching
you direct ; but my thought has got to be dissolved into
ethereal vibrations and those ethereal vibrations go into
your brain, and they have to be resolved again into your
own thoughts. Here is a dissolution of thought, and there
is a resolution of thought. It is a roundabout process. But
in telepathy, there is no such thing ; it is direct.

This shows that there is a continuity of mind, as the
Yogis call it. The mind is universal. Your mind, my
mind, all these little minds, are fragments of that universal
mind, little waves in the ocean ; and on account of this
continuity, we can convey our thoughts directly to one
another.

You see what is happening all aroudd us. The world
is one of influence. Part of our energy is used up in the
preservation of our own bodies. Beyond that, every
particle of our energy is day and night being used in
influencing others. Our bodies, our virtues, our intellect,
and our spirituality, all these are continuously influencing
others ; and*$o, conversely, we are being influenced by
them. This is going on all around us. Now, to take a

Fnttirteha* Fubiio Lib»»

14

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WOftKS

concrete example. A man cornea ; you know he la very
learned, hia language ia beautiful, and he apeaka to you by
the hour ; but he does not make any impression. Another
man comes, and he speaks a few wmrds, not well arrai^^
ungrammatical perhaps ; all the same, he makea an
immense impression. Many dE you have seen that So
it is evident that words alone cannot always produce an
impression. Words, even thoughts contribute only one-
third of the influence in making an impression, the man,
two-thirds. What you call the personal magnetism of the
man — that is what goes out and impresses you.

In our families there are the heads ; some of them are
succeskul, others are not. Why? We complain of others
in our failures. The moment I am unsuccessful, I say, so-
and-so is the cause of the failure. In failure, one does
not like to confess one’s own faults and weaknesses.
Each person tries to hold himself faultless and lay the
blame upon somebody or something else, or even on bad
luck. When heads of families fail, they should ask them-
selves, why it is that some persons manage a family so
well and others do not. Then you will find that the
difference is owing to the man — ^his presence, his
personality.

Coming to great leaders of mankind, we always find
that it was the personality of the man that counted. Now,
take all the great authors of the past, the great thinkers.
Really speaking, how many thoughts have they thought?
Take all the writings that have been left to us by the past
leaders of mankind ; take each one of their books and
appraise them. The red thoughts, new and genuine, that
have been thought in this world up to this time, amount to
only a handful. Read in their IxxAs the thoughts they
have left to us. The authors do not appear to be giants
to us, and yet we know that they were great giants in
their days. What made them so? Not simply the thoughts
they- thought, neither the books they wrote, ntxr the

T3m. VqWSM OF THE MIND »

qpeichei &ey made, it was something dse that is now gime,
that is their personality. As I have already remark^, the
penonality of the man is two-thirds, and his intdlect, his
words, are but one-third. It is the real man, the personality
of the man, that runs through us. Our actions are but
effects. Actions must conu when the man is there ; the
effect is bound to follow die cause.

The ideal of all educadon, all training, should be this
man-mnking. But, instead of that, we are always trying
to polish up the outside. What use in polishing up the
outside when there is no iiuide? The end and aim of all
training is to make the man grow. The man who
influences, who throws his magic, as it were, upon his
feUow-beings, is a dynamo of power, and whoi that man is
ready, he can do anything and everything he likes ; that
personality put upon anything will make it work.

Now, we see that though this is a fact, no physical
laws that we know of will explain this. How can we
explain it by chemical and physical knowledge? How
much of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon, how many molecules
in different posidons, and how many cells, etc., etc. can
explain this mysterious personality? And we sdll see, it
is a fact, and not only that, it is the real man ; and it is
that man that lives and moves and works, it is that man
that influences, moves his fellow-beings, and passes out,
and his intellect and books and works m but traces left
behind. Think of this. Compare the great teachers of
religion with the great philosojdiers. Tlie philosophers
scarcely influenced anyb^y’s inner man, and yet they
wrote most marvellous botdu. The religious teasers, on
the other hand, moved countries in their lifetime. The
difference was made by personality. In the philosopher
it is a faint personality that influences; in the great
pn^hets it is tremendous. In the former we toudi the
intdlect, in the latter we touch life. In the tme case, it
is dmply a dremical process* putting certain diemical

Uttaipara laikrisbna Public Ubniy

16

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

ingredients together which may gradually combine and
under proper circumstances bring out a flash of lig^t or
may fail. In the other, it is like a torch that goes round
quickly, lighting others.

The science of Yoga claims that it has discovered the
laws which develop this personality, and by proper atten-
tion to those laws and methods, each one can grow and
strengthen his personality. This is one of the great
practical things, and this is the secret of all education.
This has a universal application. In the life of the house-
holder, in the life of the poor, the rich, the man of
business, the spiritual man, in every one's life, it is a great
thing, the strengthening of this personality. There are
laws, very fine, which are behind the physical laws, as We
know. That is to say, there are no such realities as
a physical world, a mental world, a spiritual world.
Whatever is, is one. Let us say, it is a sort of tapering
existence ; the thickest part is here, it tapers and becomes
liner and finer. The finest is what we call spirit ; the
grossest, the body. And just as it is here in micro-
cosm, it is exactly the same in the macrocosm. The
universe of ours is exactly like that ; it is the gross external
thickness, and it tapers into something finer and finer
until it becomes God.

We also know that the greatest power is lodged in the
fine, not in the coarse. We see a man take up a huge
weight, we see his muscles swell, and all over his body we
see signs of exertion, and we think the muscles are power-
ful things. *But it is the thin threkd-like things, the nerves,
which bring power to the muscles ; the moment one of
these threads is cut off from reaching the muscles, they are
not able to work at all. These tiny nerves bring the power
from something still finer, and that again in its turn briqga
it from something finer still — thought, and so. on. So,
it is the fine that is really the seat of power. Of coune
we can see the movements in the gross; but when fine

THE powrats OP THE BOND

17

movemeBti take {dace, ytt cannot see them. When a gross
diing move^ we catch it. and thus we naturally identify
movement with things which are gross. But all the powei*
is really in the fine. We do not see any movement in the
fine, perhaps, because the movement is so intense that we
cannot perceive it. But if by any science, any investiga'
tion, we are helped to get hold of these finer forces which
are the cause of the expression, the expression itself will
be under control. There is a little bubble craning from
the bottom of a lake ; we do not see it coming all the
time, we see it only when it bursts on the surface; so,
we can perceive thoughts only after they develop a great
deal, or after they become actions. We constantly com-
plain that we have no control over our actions, over our
thoughts. But how can we have it? If we can get control
over the fine movements, if we can get hold of thought at
the root, before it has become thought, before it has
become action, then it would be possible for us to control
the whole. Now, if there is a method by which we can
analyse, investigate, understand, and finally grapple with
those finer powers, the finer causes, then alone is it possible
to have control over ourselves, and the man who has
control over his own mind assuredly will have control over
every other mind. That is why purity and mrarality have
been always the object of religion ; a pure, moral man has
control of himself. And all minds are the same, different
parts of one Mind. He who knows one lump of clay has
known all the clay in the universe. He who knows and
controls his own mind knows the secret of every mind and
has power over every mind.

Now, a good deal of our physical evil we can get rid
<rf, if we have control over the fine parts ; a good many
worries we can throw oS, if we have control over the fine
movements ; a good many failures can be averted, if we
have control over these fine powers. So far, is utility. Yet
beyraid, there is something high^-

18

SWAMl VIVEKANAMSA'S WCMIKS

Now, I shall teU you a Uie(n7, whidt 1 will not aigue
now, but simply place before you the omclusion. Eadi
man in his childhood runs through the stages dirou^
which his race has come up ; only the race to<A thoumnds
of years to do it, while tire child takes a lew years. The
child is first the old savage man — and he crushes a
butterfly under his feet. The child is at first like the
primitive ancestors of his race. As he grows, he passes
through different stages until he readies the development
of his race. Only he does it swiftly and quickly. Now,
take the whole of humanity as a race, or take the whole
of the animal creation, man and the lower animals, as one
whole. There is an end towards which the whole is
moving. Let us call it perfection. Some men and women
are born who antidpate the whole progress of mankind.
Instead of waiting and being reborn over and over i^in
for ages until the whole human race has attained to that
perfection, they, as it were, rush through them in a few
short years of their life. And we know that we can hasten
these processes, if we be true to ourselves. If a number
of men, without any culture, be left to live upon an island,
and are given barely enough food, dothing, and shdter,
they will gradually go tm and on, evolving higher and
higher stages of dvilisation. We know also, that this
growth can be hastened by additional means. We help the
growth of trees, do we not? Left to nature they would
have grown, only they would have taken a longer time;
we help them to grow in a shorter time than they would
otherwise haVe taken. We are doing all the time the same
thing, hastening the growth of things by artifidal meiuis.
Why cannot we hasten the growth of man? We can do
that as a race. Why are teachers sent to other countries?
Because by these means we can hasten the growth of races.
Now, can we not hasten the growth of individuals?
We can. Can we put a limit to die hastening? We cannot
say how much a man can grow in one life. You have

ras, Mnvm or the mni) w

no touon to wy di«c thit much a man can do and no
moto. Ciicumatancet can hasten him wonderfully. Can
there be any limit then, till you come to perfection? So,
what cmnes of it? — ^That a perfect man, that is to say, the
tjipe that is to come of diis race, peihaps millions of yeara
hence, that man can come today. And this is what the
Yogis say, that all g^at incarnations and prt^hets are
Midi men ; that they reached perfection in Ais one life.
We have had such men at all periods of the world's history
and at all times. Quite recently, there was such a man
who lived the life of the whole human race and reached
the end— even in diis life. Even this hastening of the
growth must be under laws. Suppose we can investigate
these laws and understand their secrets and apply them to
our own needs ; it follows that we grow. We hasten our
growth, we hasten our devdopment, and we become per-
fect, even in this life. This is the higher part of our life,
and the sdence of the study of mind and its powers has
this perfection as its real end. Helping others with money
and other material things and teaching them how to go
on nnoothly in their daily life are mere details.

The utility of this sdence is to bring out the perfect
man, and not let him wait and wait for ages, just a play-
thing in the hands of the physical woild, like a log of
drift-wood carried from wave to wave and tossing about
in the ocean. This sdence wants you to be strong; to
take the work in your own hand, instead of leaving it in
the hands of nature, and get beyond thu little life. That
is the great idea. '

Man is growing in knowledge, in power, in happiness.
Gmtinuously, we are growii^ as a rara. We see that is
true, perfectly true. Is it true of individuals? To a
ceruin extent, yes. But yet, again comes the question:
Where do you fix the limit? I can see <mly at a distance
of so many feet. But I have seen a man dose his eyes
and see what is hajqtentng in another room. H you say

20

SWAMI VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

you do not believe it« perhaps in three wedu that nnn
can make you do the same. It can be taught to anybody.
Some persons, in five minutes even, can be made to read
what is happening in another man’s mind. These facts
can be demonstrated.

Now, if these things are true, where can we put a
limit? If a man can read what is happening in another’s
mind in the comer of this ro<Hn, why not in the next room?
Why not anywhere? We cannot say, why not. We dare
not say that it is not possible. We can only say, we do
not know how it happens. Material scientists bsive no
right to say that things like this are not possible ; they can
only say, "We do not know.’’ Science has to collect facts,
generalise upon them, deduce principles, and state the
truth — that is all. But if we begin by denying the facts,
how can a science be?

There is no end to the power a man can obtain. This
is the peculiarity of the Indian mind, that when anything
interests it, it gets absorbed in it and other things are
neglected. You know how many science had their origin
in India. Mathematics began there. You are even today
counting 1, 2, 3, etc. to zero, after Sanskrit figures, and
you all know that algebra also originated in India, and
that gravitation was known to the Indians thousands of
years before Newton was bom.

You see the peculiarity. At a certain period of Indian
history, this one subject of man and his mind absorbed all
their interest. And it was so enticing, because it seemed
the easiest way to achieve their ends. Now, the Indian
mind became so thoroughly persuaded that the mind could
do anything and everything according to law, that its
powers became the great object of study. Charms, magic«
and other powers, and all that were nothing extraordinary,
but a regularly taught science, just as the physktd sciences
they had tau^t before that. Sudi a amviction in these
dungs came upcm the race that physical sciences nearly

THE POWERS OF THE MIND «

died out. It was the one thing that came before them.
Different sects of Yogis began to make all sorts of otperi-
ments. Some made eiqMriments with light, trying to find
out how lights of different colours produced changes in
the body. They wore a certain coloured cloth, lived Under
a certain colour, and ate certain coloured foods. All torts
of experiments were made in this way. Others made
experiments in sound by stopping and unstopping their
ears. And still others experimented in the sense of smell,
and so on.

The whole idea was to get at the basis, to reach the
fine parts of the thing. And some of them really showed
most marvellous powers. Many of them were trying to
float in the air or pass through it. I shall tell you a story
which I heard from a great scholar in the West. It Was
told him by a Governor of Ceylon who saw the per*
formance. A girl was brought forward and seated cross-
legged upon a stool made of sticks crossed.' After she
had been seated for a time, the show-man began to take
out, one after another, these cross-bars ; and when all
were taken out, the girl was left floating in the air. The
Governor thought there was some trick, so he drew bis
sword and violently passed it under the girl ; nothing was
there. Now, what was this? It was not magic or some-
thing extraordinary. That is the peculiarity. No one in
India would tell you that things like this do not exist. To
the Hindu it is a matter of course. You know what the
Hindus would often say when they have to fight their
enemies — "Oh, one of our Yogis will come and drive the
whole lot out!” It is the extreme bdief of the race.
What power is there in the hand or the sword? The
power is all in the q>irit.

If this is true, it is temptation enough for the mind
to exert its highest. But as widi every other science it is
very difficult to make any great addevemoit, to also with
diis^ nay muds more. Ytt most people diat these

22

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WOIULS

powen can be easily gained. How many are the yean yon
take to make a fortune? Think of thatl First, how many
years do you take to learn electrical science or engineer*
ing? And then you have to work all the rest of your Ufe.

Again, most of the other sciences deal with things that
do not move, that are fixed. You can analyse the chair,
the chair does not fly from you. But this science deals
witli the mind, which moves all the time ; the moment you
want to study it, it dips. Now the mind is in one mood,
the next moment, perhaps, it is different, changing; chang*
ing all the time. In the midst of all this change it has to
be studied, understood, grasped, and controlled. How much
more difficult, then, is this science I It requires rigorous
training. People adc me why I do not give them practical
lessons. Why, it is no joke. I stand upon this platform
talking to you and you go home and find no benefit ; nor
do I. Then you say, “It is all bosh.“ It is because you
wanted to make a bosh of it. I know very litde of this
science, but the little that I gained I worked for thirty years
of my life, and for dx years I have been telling people the
little that 1 know. It took me thirty years to learn it ; thirty
years of hard struggle. Sometimes 1 woriced at it twenty
hours during the twenty-four ; sometimes I dept only one
hour in the nig^t ; sometimes I worked whole nigjbts ;
sometimes I lived in places where there was hardly a
sound, hardly a breath ; smnetimes I had to live in caves.
Think of that And yet I know little or nothing ; 1 have
barely touched the hem of the garment of this science.
But I can understand that it is true and vast and wonderful.

Now, if there is any one amoi^t you who really
wants to study this science, he will have to start with that
SOTt of determination, the same as, nay even more than,
that which he puts into any business of life.

And what an amount of attenti<m does budnms
require, and what a rigorous taskmaster it isl Even if the
folder, the mother, the wife, or the child dies, business

THE POWERS OF THE MIND 2S

csinnot stop! Even if the li^art is breaking; we still have
to go to our place of business* when every hour of work
is a pang. That is business* and we think that it is just*
that it is right.

Hiis science calls for moze application than any busi-
ness can ever require. Many men can succeed in business ;
very few in this. Because so much depends upon the
particular constitution of the person studying it. As in
business all may not make a fortune* but everyone can
make something* so in the study of this science each one
can get a glimpse which will convince him of its truth and
of the fact that there have been men who realised it fully.

This is the outline of the science. It stands upon its
own feet and in its own light* and challenges comparison
with any other science. There have been charlatans* there
have been magicians* there have been cheats* and more
here than in any other held. Why? For the same reason*
that the more profitable the business* the greater the
number of charlatans and cheats. But that is no reason
why the business should not be good. And one thing
more ; it may be good intellectual gymnastics to listen to
all the arguments and an intellectual satisfaction to hear
of wonderful things. But* if any one of you really wants
to learn something beyond that* merely attending lectures
will not do. That cannot be taught in lectures* for it is
life ; and life can only convey life. If there are any
amongst you who are really determined to learn it* I shall
be very glad to help them.

fmSktlHhBM Public lilbffRt^

HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPIRITUAUTY

(Deliwred at the Home of Truth, Los Angeles, California)

This morning I shall try to present to you some ideas
about breathing and other exercises. We have been dis-
cussing theories so long that now it will be well to have
a little of the practical. A great many books have been
written in India upon this subject. Just as your people
are practical in many things, so it seems our people are
practical in this line. Five persons in this country will
join their heads together and say, “We will have a joint-
stock company”, and in five hours it is done ; in India
they could not do it in fifty years ; they are so unpractical
in matters like this. But, mark you, if a man starts a
system of philosophy, however wild its theory may be, it
will have followers. For instance, a sect is started to teach
that if a man stands on one leg for twelve years, day and
night, he will get salvation — there will be hundreds ready
to stand on one leg. All the suffering will be quietly borne.
There are people who keep their arms upraised for years
to gain religious merit. I have seen hundreds of them.
And, mind you, they are not always ignorant fools, but
are men who will astonish you with the depth and breadth
of their intellect. So, you see, the word practical is also
relative.

We are'always making this mistake in judging others ;
we are always inclined to think that our little mental
universe is all that is ; our ethics, our morality, our sense
of duty, our sense of utility, are the only things that are
worth having. The other day when I was going to Europe,
I was passing through Marseilles, where a bull-fig^t was
being held. All the Englishmen in the steamer were mad
with excitement, abusing and criticising the whole thing

HINTS ON l^RACnCAL SPIRITUAUTY

25

as cnieL When 1 reached England, I heard of a party of
prize-hghtera who had been to Paris, and were ki<^ed out
unceremoniously by the French, who thought prize-fighting
very brutal. When I hear th^ things in various countries,
I begin to understand the marvellous saying Christ:
''Judge not that ye be not judged/* The more we leaTn>
the more we find out how ignorant we are, how multi-
form and multi-sided is this mind of man. When 1 was a
boy, 1 used to criticise the ascetic practices of my country-
men ; great preachers in our own land have criticised
them ; the greatest man that was ever bom, Buddha him-
self, criticised them. But all the same, as I am growing
older, I feel that I have no right to judge. Sometimes 1
wish that, in spite of all their incongruities, 1 had one
fragment of their power to do and suffer. Often I think
that my judgment and my criticism do not proceed from
any dislike of torture, but from sheer cowardice — ^because
I cannot do it — 'I dare not do it.

Then, you see that strength, power, and courage are
things which are very peculiar. We generally say, ‘*A
courageous man, a brave man, a daring man'*, but we must
bear in mind that that courage or bravery or any other
trait does not always characterise the man. The same
man who would rush to^the mouth of a cannon shrinks
from the knife of the surgeon ; and another man who never
dares to face a gun will calmly bear a severe surgical
operation, if need be. Now, in judging others you must
always define your terms of courage or greatness. The
man whom 1 am criticising as not goo^ may be wonder-
fully so in some points in which I am not.

Take another example. You often note, when people
are discussing as to what man and woman can do, always
the same mistake is made. They think they show man at
his best because he can fight, for instance, and undergo
tremendous physical exertion ; and this is pitted against
the physical weakness and the non-combating quality of

i»ubuoUbi«»

26

SWAMI VIVEKANAMDA*8 WOftXS

woman. This is unjust. Woman is as courageous at
man. £adi is equally good in his or her way. What nuusb
can bring up a diild with such patience, endurance, mid
love as the woman can? The (uie has d^relqped the
power of doing ; the other, the power dE suffering,
woman cannot act, neither can man suffer. The whole
universe is one ci perfect balance. I do not know, but
some day we may wake up and find that the mere wmm
has something which balances our manhood. The most
wicked person may have some good qualities that I entirely
lack. 1 see that every day of my life. Look at the savagel
1 wish I had such a splendid physique. He eats, he drinks,
to his heart’s content, without knowing perhaps what
sickness is, while I am suffering every minute. How many
times would I have been g^ad to have changed my brain
for his bodyl The whole universe is only a wave and a
hollow ; there can be no wave without a hollow. Balance
everywhere. You have one thing great, your neighbour
has another thing great. When you are judging man and
woman, judge them by the standard of their respective
greatness. One cannot be in other’s shoes. The one
has no right to say that the other is wicked. It is the same
old superstition that says, "If diis is done, the world will
go to ruin.” But in spite of this the world has not yet
come to ruin. It was said in this country that if the Negroes
were freed, the country would go to ruin — but did it? It
was also said that if the masses were educated, the wtvld
would come to ruin — but it was only made better. Several
years ago a book came out depicting the worst thing that
could happen to England. The writer showed that as
workmen’s wages were rising, English commerce was
dedining. A cry was raised that the workma in En^and
were exorbiunt in their demands, and that the Germans
worked for less wages. A commission was sent over to
Germany to investigate this and it reported that the
German labourers received h^^er wages. Why was it so?

HINTS ON PRACTICAL SPOUTUAUTY

27

Became of the education of the masses. Then how about
the world going to ruin if the masses are educated? In
India, especially, we meet with old fogies all over the land.
They want to keep everything secret horn the masses.
These peojde come to the very satisfying conclusion that
they are the crime de la crime of this universe. They
believed they cannot be hurt by these dangerous experi-
ments. It is only the masses that can be hurt by them!

Now, coming back to the practical. The subject of
the practical application of psychology has been taken up
in India from very early times. About fourteen hundred
years before Christ, there flourished in India a great philos-
opher, Patanjali by name. He collected all the facts,
evidences, and researches in psychology and took advan-
tage of all the experiences acnimulafted in the past.
Remember, this world is very oW ; it was not created only
two or three thousand years ago. It is taught here in the
West that society began eighteen hundred yean ago, with
the New Testament. Before that there was no society.
Tliat may be true with regard to the West, but it is not
true as regards the whole world. Often, while I was lec-
turing in London, a very intellectual and intelligent friend
of mine would argue with me, and one day after using all
his weapons against me, he suddenly exclaimed, “But why
did not your Rishis come to England to teach us?” I
replied, “Because there was no England to come to.
Would they preach to the forests?”

“Fifty years ago,” said Ingersoll to me, “you would
have been hanged in this country if you had come to
preach. You would have been burnt alive or you would
iiave been stoned out of the villages.”

So there is nothing unreasonable in the supposition
that civilisation existed fourteen hundred years before
Christ. It is not yet settled whether civilisation has always
come firom the lowq: to tire higher. The same arguments
and proofs that have been brought forward to prove this

II- S

a SWAMI VIVEKAMANDA*S MfOMS

proposition can alto be used to demonstnite dia dw
savage it only a degraded dviliied iniatt. The peofde .ai
China, for instance, can never believe that didlisadon
sprang frcmi a savage state, because tbe ocuttrary is adddn
their experience. But when you talk of the dvilisatkm
America, what you mean is the perpetuity and the growth
of your own race.

It is very easy to believe that the Hindus, who have
been declining for seven hundred years, were highly civil-
ised in the past. We cannot prove that it is not so.

There is not one sin^e instance of any civilisation
being spontaneous. There was not a race in the world
which became civilised unless another civilised race came
and mingled with that race. The <«igin of civilisation
must have belonged, so to say, to one or two races who
went abroad, spread their ideas, and intermingled with
other races and thus civilisation spread.

For practical ptuposes, let us talk in the lang^uage of
modem science. But 1 must ask you to bear in mind that,
as there is religious superstition, so also there is a
superstition in the matter of science. There are priests
who take up religious work as their speciality; so also
there are priests of physical law, scientists. As soon as a
great scientist’s name, like Darwin or Huxley, is cited, we
follow, blindly. It is the fashion of the day. Ninety-nine
per cent of what we call scientific knowledge is mere
theories. . And many of them are no better than the old
superstitions of ghosts with many heads and hands, but
with this difference that the latter differentiated man a
little from stocks and stones. True science asks us to be
cautious. Just as we should be careful with the priests,
so we should be with the . scientists. Begin with disbelief.
Analyse, test, prove everything, and then take it. Some
the most current beUefs of modem science have not heen
proved. Even in such a scimce as mathematics, the vast
majority of its theories are only working h)^heses; With

Hum ON VBACmCAL SPIRITUAUTY 89

the advent of greater \ knowledge they will be thrown
away.

In 1400 B.C. a great sage made an attempt to arrange; *
ansdyse, and generalise upon certain psychological facts.
He was followed by many others who took up parts of
what he had discovered and made a special study of them.
The Hindus alone of all ancirat races took up the study of
this branch of knowledge in right earnest. 1 am teaching
you now about iu but how many of you will practise it ?
How many days, how many months will it be before you
give it up ? You are impractical on this subject. In India,
they will persevere for ages and ages. You will be aston*
ished to hear that they have no churches, no Common
Prayers, or anything of the kind ; but they, every day, still
practise the breathings and try to concentrate the mind ;
and that is the chief part oi their devotion. These are
the main points. Every Hindu must do these. It is the
religion of the country. Only, each one may have a
special method — a special form of breathing, a special
form of concentration, and what is one's special method,
even one's wife need not know ; the father need not
know the son's. But they aU have to do these. And there
is nothing occult about these things. The word "occult"
has no bearing on them. Near the Gangi thousands and
thousands of people may be seen daily sitting on its banks
breathing and concentrating with closed eyes. There
may be two reasons that make certain practices im-
practicable for the generality of mankind. One is, the
teachers hold that the ordinary people ire not fit for them.
There may be some truth in this, but it is due more to
pride. The second is the fear of persecution. A man, for
instance, would not like to practise breathing publicly in
this country, because he would be thought so queer ; it is
not the fashion here. On the other hand, in India, if a
man prayed, "Give us this day our daily bread", people
would laugh at him. Nothing could be more foolish to

FubUo

90

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

the Hindu mind than to say, “Our Father which art in
Heaven." The Hindu, when he worships, thinks that God
is within himself.

According to the Yogis, there arc three principal
nerve currents: one they call the ld<i, the other the
Pingalil, and the middle one the Sushumni, and all these
are inside the spinal column. The Ida and the Pingala,
the left and the right, are clusters of nerves, while the
middle one, the Sushumna, is hollow and is not a cluster
of nerves. This Sushumna is closed, and for the ordinary
man is of no use, for he works through the Ida and the
Pingala only. Cuitents are continually going down and
coming up through tliesc nerves, carrying orders all over
the body througti other nerves running to the different
organs of the body.

It is the regulation and the bringing into rhythm of
the Ida and Pingala that is the great object of breathing.
But that itself is nothing — it is only so much air taken into
the lungs ; except for purifying the blood, it is of no more
use. There is nothing occult in the air that we take in with
our breath and assimilate to purify the blood ; the action
is merely a motion. This motion can be reduced to the
unit movement we call Prina ; and everywhere, all move-
ments are the various manifestations of this Prana. This
Prana is electricity, it is magnetism ; it is thrown out by
the brain as thought. Everything is Prana ; it is moving
the sun, the moon, and the stars.

We say, whatever is in this universe has been
projected by the vibration of the Prana. The highest result
of vibration is thought. If there be any higher, we can-
not conceive of it. The nerves, Ida and Pingala, work
through the Prana. It is the Prana that is moving every
part of the body, becoming the different forces. Give up
that old idea that God is something that produces the effect
and sits on a throne dispensing justice. In working we
become exhausted because we use up so much Prana.

HINTS ON PRACTICAL ^IRITUALITY

SI

’ ' The breathing exercises, called Priiniiyiima, bring
about r^ulation of the breathing, rhythmic action of the
Prana. When the Prana is working rhythmically, every^
thing works properly. When the Yogis get control over
their own bodies, if there is any disease in any part, they
know that the Prana is not rhythmic there and they direct
the Prana to the affected part until the rhythm is
re-established.

Just as you can control the Prana in your own body,
so, if you are powerful enough, you can control, even from
here another man's Prana in India. It is all one. There
is no break ; unity is the law. Physically, psychically,
mentally, morally, metaphysically, it is all one. Life is
only a viI>ration. 'i'hat which vibrates this ocean of ether,
vibrates you. Just as in a lake, various strata of ice of
various degrees of solidity are formed, or as in an ocean
of vapour there are various degrees of density, so is tin's
universe an ocean of matter. This is an ocean of ether
in which we find the sun, moon, stars, and ourselves —
in different states of solidity ; but the continuity is not
broken ; it is the same throughout.

Now, when we study metaphysics, we come to know
the world is one, not that the spiritual, the material, the
mental, and the world of energies are separate. It is all
one, but seen from different planes of vision. When you
think of yourself as a body, you forget that you are a mind,
and when you think of yourself as a mind, you will forget
the body. There is only one thing, that you are ; you can
see it either as matter or body — or*you can sec it as
mind or spirit. Birth, life, and death arc but old super-
stitions. None was ever bom, none will ever die ; one
changes one’s position — that is all. I am sorry to see in
the West how much they make of death : always trying
to catch a little life. "Give us life after death! Give us
life!” They are so happy if anybody tells them that they
are going to live afterwards! How can I ever doubt such

S2 SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

a thingl How can I imagifie that 1 am deadi Tty to
think of yourself, as dead, and you will see that you are
present to see youc own dead body. Life is such a
wonderful reality that you cannot for a moment forget it.
You may as wdl doubt that you exist. This is the first
fact of ccmsciousness — I vn. Who can imagine a state of
things which never existed ? It is the most self-evident d
all truths. So, the idea oi immortality is inherent in man.
How can one discuss a subject that is unimaginable.?
Why should we want to discuss the pros and cons of a
subject that is self-evident ?

The whole universe, therefore, is a unit, from what-
ever standpoint you view it. Just now, to us, this universe
is a unit of Prana and Akisha, force and matter. And
mind you, like all other basic principles, this is also self-
contradictory. For what is force? — 'that which moves
matter. And what is matter? — that which is moved by
force. It is a seesaw! Some of the fundamentals of our
reasoning are most curious, in spite of our boast of science
and knowledge. *'It is a headache without a head”, as
the Sanskrit proverb says. This state of things has been
called Miy&. It has neither existence nor non-existence.
You cannot call it existence, because that only exists which
is beyond time and space, which is self-existence. Yet this
world satisfies to a certain degree our idea of existence.
Therefore it has an apparent existence.

But there is the real existence in and through every-
thing ; and that reality, as it were, is caught in the meshes
of time, ^pace, and causation. There is the real man, the
infinite, the beginningless, the endless, the ever-blessed,
the ever-free. He has been caught in the meshes of time,
space, and causation. So has everything in this world.
The reality of everything is the same infinite. This
is not idealism ; it is not that the world does not exist.
It has a relative existence, and fulfils all its require-
ments But it has no independent existence. It exists

HINTS CM FRACTiqAL HPllUTUAUTY IS

b^iue of the Absolute Reality beyond tinie» qpaec^ and
omsation,

1 have made long digiewions. Now, let us mum to
our main subject.

All the automatic movements and all the conscious
movements are the working of Prana through the nerves.
Now, you see, it will be a very good thing to have control
over the unconscious actions.

On some other occasions, 1 told you the definition of
God and man. Man is an infinite circle whose circum-
ference is nowhere, but the centre is located in one spot ;
and God is an infinite drcle whose circumference is
nowhere, but whose centre is everywhere. He works
through all hands, sees through all eyes, walks on all
feet, breathes through all bodies, lives in all life, speaks
through every mouth, and thinks through every brain.
Man can become like God and acquire control over the
whole universe if he multiplies infinitely his centre of self-
consciousness. Consciousness, therefore, is the dtiief thing
to understand. Let us say that here is an infinite line
amid darkness. We do not see the line, but on it there is
one luminous point which moves on. As it moves along
the line, it lights up its different parts in succession, and
all that is left behind becomes dark again. Our conscious*
ness may well be likened to this luminous point. Its past
experiences have been replaced by the present, or have
become subconscious. We are not aware of their presence
in us; but there. they are, unconsciously influencing our
body and mind. Every movement thal is now. being made
without the help of consciousness was previously conscious.
Suffkient impetus has been given to it to work of itself.

The great error in all ethical systems, without excep-
tion, has been the failure of teaching the means by which
man could refrain from doing evil. All the systems of
ethics teach, *^Do not stealT' Very good ; but why does
a man steal ? Because all stealing, robbing, and other

falJkjrtehBiz

S4

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

evil actions, as a rule, have become automatic. The
systematic robber, thief, liar, unjust man and woman, are
all these in spite of themselves I It is really a tremendous
psychological problem. We should look upon man in the
most charitable light. It is not so easy to be good. What
are you but mere machines until you are free ? Should
you be proud because you are good? Certainly not. You
are good because you cannot help it. Another is bad
because he cannot help it. If you were in his position,
who knows what you would have been? The woman ho
the street, or the thief in the jail, is the Christ that is being
sacrificed that you may be a good man. Such is the law
of balance. All the thieves and the murderers, all the
unjust, the weakest, the wickedest, the devils, they all are
my Christ! I owe a worship to the God Christ and to the
demon Christ 1 That is my doctrine, I cannot hdp it. My
salutation goes to the feet of the good, the saintly, and to
the feet of the wicked and the devilish! They are all my
teachers, all are my spiritual fathers, all are my Saviours.
I may curse one and yet benefit by his failings; 1 may
bless another and benefit by his good deeds. This is
as true as that I stand here. I have to sneer at the woman
walking in the street, because society wants it! She, my
Saviour, she, whose street-walking is the cause of the
chastity of other women! Think of that. Think, men and
women, of this questimi in your mind. It is a truth — ^a
bare, bold truth! As I see more of the world, see more of
men and women, this conviction grows stremgor. Whmn
shall I Marne? Whom shall I praise? Both sides of dm
shield must be seen.

The task before us is vast ; and first and foremost, we
must seek to control the vast mass of sunken thoughts
which have become automatic with us. The edl deed is,
no doubt, on the conscious plane; but the cause which
produced the evil deed was far beytmd in the realms of
the unconscious, unseen, and therefore more potent.

' HINTS ON PIlACnCAL SPIRITUALITY 8S

. I

Practical paydiology diiects fint of all its eneigics in
oHitroUiiig the unconscious, and we know that we .can
do it. Why ? Because we know the cause of the un-
conscious is the conscious; the unconscious thot:^hts ate
the Bttbmeiged millions of our old conscious thoughts, old
conscious actions become petrified — ^we do not look at
them, do not know them,' have foigotten them. But mind
you, if the power of evil is in the unconscious, so also is
the power of good. We have many things stored in us as
in a podiet. We have foigotten them, do not even think
of them, and there are many of them, rotting, becoming
positively dangerous; they come forth, the unconscious
causes which kill humanity. True psychology would,
therefore, try to bring them under the control of the
conscious. The great task is to revive the whole man,
as it were, in order to make him the complete master of
himself. Even what we call the automatic action of the
oigans within our bodies, such as the liver .etc., can be
made to obey our commands.

This is the first pari of the study, the control of the
uncmudous. The next is to go beyond the conscious.
Just as unconscious work is beneath consciousness, so there
is another work which is above consciousness. When this
superconsdous state is reached, man becomes free and
divine ; death becomes immortality, weakness becomes in-
finite powo:, and iron bondage becomes liberty. That is
the goal, the infinite realm of the superconscious.

So, therefore, we see now that there must be a twofold
work. First, by the proper working of the Ida and the
Pingala, which are the two existing ordinary currents, to
contnd the subconscious action ; and secondly, to go beyond
even consciousness.

The books say that he alone is the Yogi who, after
long practice in self-concoitration, has attained to this
truth. The Sushumna now opens and a current which
never before entered into this new passage will find its way

36

SWAia VlVEBANAiakA‘8 WOMU

into it, and gradually ascend to (what we call in ^[urative
language) the different lotus centres, till at last it* reaches
the brain. Then the Yogi beonnes conscious of what be
really is, God Himself.

Everyone without exception, everyone of uS) can
attain to this culmination of Yoga. But it is a terrible task.
If a person wants to attain to thil truth, he will have to do
something more than to listen to lectures and take a few
breathing exercises. Everything lies in the preparation.
How long does it take to strike a light ? Only a second ;
but how long it takes to make the candlel How long
does it take to eat a dinner? Perhaps half an hour. But
hours to prepare the food I We want to strike the light
in a second, but we forget that the making oi die candle
is the chief thing.

But though it is so hard to reach the goal, yet even our
smallest attempts are not in vain. We know that nothing
is lost. In the Gita, Arjuna asks Krishna, “Those who
fail in attaining perfection in Yoga in this life, are they
destroyed like the clouds of summer?” Krishna replies,
“Nothing, my friend, is lost in this world. Whatever one
does, that remains at one’s own, and if the fruition of
Yoga does not come in this life, one takes it up again
in the next birth.” Otherwise, how do you explain the
marvellous childhood of Jesus, Buddha, Shankara?

Breathing, posturing, etc. are no doubt helps in Yoga ;
but they are merely physical. The great preparations are
mental. The lint thing necessary is a quiet and peaceable
life. '

If you want to be a Yogi, you must be free, and place
yourself in circumstances where you are alone and free
from all anxiety. He who desires a comfortable and nice
life and at the same time wants to realise the Self it like
the fool who, wanting to cross the river, caught hold of
a crocodile, mistaking it for a log of wood.^ “Seek ye first

* tfioekaehuddtnani, 84.

*7

HINTS ON FRACnCAL STtRITUALnY

the kingdbm of God, and everythiiig shall be added unto
you.^ This is the one great duty, this is renundation.
Live for an ideal, and leave no place in the mind for any-
thing else. Let lis put forth sdl our energies to acquire that
.whidi never fails— ^our q^^tritual perfection. If we have
true yearning for realisation, we must struggle, and through
struggle growth will come. We diall make mistakes, but
they may be angels unawar^.

The greatest help to spiritual life is meditation
(Dhyftna). In meditation we divest ourselves of all
material conditions and feel our divine nature. We do
not depend upon any external help in meditation. The
touch of the soul can paint the brightest colour even in
the dingiest places ; it can cast a fragrance over the vilest
thing ; it can make the wicked divine — ^and all enmity, all
selfishness is effaced. The less the thought of the body,
the better. For it is the body that drags us down. It
is attachment, identification, which makes qs miserable.
That is the secret: To think that I am the spirit and not
the body, and that the whole of this universe with all its
relations, with all its good and all its evil, is but as a
series of paintings — scenes on a canvas— of which I am
the witness.

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION

The idea of a Personal God has obtained in almost
every i^eligion, except a very few. With the exception of
the Buddhist and the Jain, perhaps all the religions of the
world have the idea of a Personal God, and with it comes
the idea of devotion and worship. The Buddhists and the
Jains, although they have no Personal God, worship the
founders of their religions in precisely the same way as
others worship a Personal God. This idea of devotion
and worship to some higher being who can reflect back the
love to man is universal. In various religions this love
and devotion is manifested in various degrees, at different
stages. The lowest stage is that of ritualism, when
abstract ideas are almost impossible, and arc dragged
down to the lowest plane, and made concrete. Forms
come into play, and, along with them, various- symbols.
Throughout the history of the world, we find that man is
trying to grasp the abstract through thought-forms, or
symbols. All the external manifestations of religion —
bells, music, rituals, books, and images — come under that
head. Anything that appeals to the senses, anything that
helps man to form a conc'^ te image of the fibstract, is
taken hold of, and worshipped.

From time to time, there have been reformers in every
religion, who have stood against all symbols and rituals.
But vain has been their opposition, for so long as man will
remain as he is, - the vast majority will always want some-
thing concrete to hold on to, something around which, as
it were, to place their ideas, something which will be the
centre of all the thought-forms in their minds. The great
attempts of the Mohammedans and of the Protestants
hav6 been directed to this one end, of doing away with all
rituals, and yet we find that even with them, rituals have

BHAKTl OR DEVOTION B9

crept in. They cannot be kept out ; after long strugg^e^
the masses simply change one symbol for another. The
Mohammedan* who thinks that every ritual* every form*
image* or ceremony^ used by a nomMohammedan is sin-
ful* does not think so when he comes to his own shrine*
the Caaba. Every religious Mohammedan wherever he
prays* must imagine that he is standing before the Caaba.
When he makes a pilgrimage there* he must kiss the
black stone in the wall of the shrine. All the kisses that
have been imprinted on that stone* by millions and
lutlltons of pilgrims* will stand up as witnesses for the
benefit of the faithful on the last day of judgment. Then,
there is the well of Zimzim. Mohammedans believe that
whoever draws a little water out of that well will have his
sins pardoned* and he will* after the day of resurrection*
have a fresh body* and live for ever. In others* we find
that the symbology comes in the form of buildings.
Protestants hold that churches are more sacred than other
places. The church* as it is, stands for a symbol. Or there
is the Book. The idea of the Book, to them, is much
holier than any other symbol.

It is vain to preach against the use of symbols* and
why should we preach against them? There is no reason
why man should not use symbols. They have them in
order to represent the ideas signified behind them. This
universe is a symbol, in and through which we are trying
to grasp the thing signified, which is beyond and behind.
The spirit is the goal, and not matter. Forms, images,
bells* candles* books* churches* temples* and all holy
symbols arc very good* very helpful to the growing plant
of spirituality* but thus far and no farther. In the vast
majority of cases, we find that the plant does not grow. It
is very good to be bom in a church, but it is very bad to
die in a church. It is very good to be born within the
limits of certain forms that help the little plant of
spirituality, but if a man dies within the bounds of these

40

SWAMI VIVEIA1«INDA*S WCXMtS

f(Mniu, it dtowB that he has not gromt, that dusre hat been
no develojnnent of the souL

If, therefore, any one says that symbds, rituals, and
forms are to be kept.for evar» he is wroi^; ; but if he says,
that these symbols and rituals are a help to the growth of
the soul, in its low and undeveloped state, he is ri{^t.
But, you must not mistake this development of the soul as
meaning anything intellectual. A man can be of gigantic
intellect, yet spiritually he< may be a baby. You can
verify it this moment. All of you have been taught to
bdieve in an Omnipresent God. Try to think of it. How
few of you can have any idea of what mnniptesence
means! If you struggle hard, you will get something like
the idea of the ocean, oi the sky, or of a vast stretch
of green earth, or of a desert. All these are material
images, and so long as you cannot conceive of the abstract
M abstract, of the ideal as the ideal, you will have to
resort to these forms, these material images. It does not
make much difference whethor these images are inside
or outside the mind. We are all bom idolaters, and
idolatry is good, because it is in the nature of man. Who
can get beyond it? Only the perfea man, the God-man.
The rest are all idolaters. So long as we see this universe
before us, with its forms and diapes, we are all idolaters.
This it a gigantic symbol we are wonhij^ing. He who
says he is the body it a bom idolater. We are spirit,
spirit that has no form or shape, q>irit that is infinite,
and not mat^. Therefme. anyone who cannot grasp
the abstract, who cannot think of himsdf as he ii, except
in and through matter, as the body, is an idolater. And
yet how people fight among themselves, caUing one
another idolaters! In other wtnds, each says, his idol is
T^t, and the others' are wrong.

Thoefore, ye should get rid of these dtildish norimm
We should get beyond the prattle of men who think that
leligkm is merely a mass of frothy words, that it is only a

4t

nHAKTi ^ iKVoncm

♦

system oE docMncs; to whom xeligion is only a little
intellectual assent or dissent ; to whom leligion is believing
in certain words which their ovm priests tell them ; to
whom rdigion is something which their forefathers
believed ; to whom religion is a certain form of ideas and
superstitions to which they ding because they are their,
national superstitions. We should get beyond all these
and look at humanity as one vast organism, slowly coming
towards light — a wonderful plant, slowly unfolding itself
to that wonderful truth wUch is called God — and the
first gyrations, the first motions, towards this are always
through matter and through ritual.

In the heart of all these ritualisms, there stands one
idea prominent above aU the rest — the worship of a name.
Those of you who have studied the older forms of Chris-
tianity, those of you who have studied the other religions
of the world, perhaps have marked that there is this
idea with them all, the worship of a name. A* name is
said to be very sacred. In the Bitde we read that the holy
name of God was considered sacred beyond compare,
holy beyond everything. It was the holiest of all names,
and it was thought that this very Word was God. This is
quite true. What is this universe but name and form?
Gan you think without words? Word and thought are
inseparable. Try if any one of you can separate them.
Whenever you think, you are doing so through word
forms. The one brings the other ; thought brings the word,
and the word brings the thought. Thus tl\^ whole universe
is, as it were, the external symbol of God, and behind that
stands His grand name. Each particular body is a form,
and behind that particular body is its name. As soon as
you think of our friend So>^and-so, there comes the idea of
his body, and as soon as you think of your friend’s body,
you get the idea of his name. ThU is in the constitution of
man. That is to 8ay> psychologically, in the mind-stuff of
man, there cannot ccnne the idea of name without the idea

42

SWAMl VIVEXANANDA’S WORKS

of form, and there cannot come the idea of form widiout
the idea of name. They are inseparable; they ate die
external and the internal sides of the same wave. As
such, names have been exalted and worahij^ped all over
the world — cmisciously or unconsciously, man found the
.glory of names.

Again, we find that in many different religions, holy
personages have been worshipped. They worship Krishna,
they worship Buddha, they worship Jesus, and so forth.
Then, there is the worship of saints; hundreds of them
have been worshipped all over the world, and why not ?
The vibration of light is everywhere. The owl sees it in
the dark. That shows it is there, though man cannot see
it. To man, that vibration is only visible in the lamp,
in the sun, in the moon, etc. God is omnipresent, He is
manifesting Himself in every being; but for men. He is
only visible, recognisable, in man. When His light, His
presence. His spirit, shines through the human face, then
and then alone, can man understand Him. Thus, man has
been worshipping God through men all the time, and must
do so as long as he is a man. He may cry against it,
struggle against it, but as soon as he attempts to realise
God, he will find the constitutional necessity of thinking of
God as a man.

So we find that in almost every religion these are the
three primary things which we have in the worship of
God — ^forms or symbols, names. God-men. All religions
have thes^, but you find that they want to fight with each
other. One says, “My name is the only name ; my form
is the only form ; and my God-men are the only God-men
in the world : yours are simply myths.” In modem times,
Christian clergymen have become a little kinder, and they
allow that in the older religions, the different fmrms of
wonhip were forediadowings of Christianity, whidi of
course, they consider, is the only trae form. God tested
Himself in older times, tested His powers by getting these

BHAKTl OR l»VOnON

is

dungs into shape tdiidi culminated in Christianity. This,
at least, is a great advance. Fifty years ago they would not
have said even that; nothing was true except their own
leiig^. This idea is not limited to any rdigion, nation,
or clast of persons ; petqtle are always thinking that the
only rig^t thing to be done by others is what they them-
sdves are doing. And it is here that the study of difEerent
religions hdps us. It shows us that the same thoughts that
we have bem calling ours, and ours alone, were present
hundreds of years ago In othos, and sometimes even in
a oetter form of expression than our own.

These are the mctemal forms of devotion, through
which man has to past ; but if he is sincere, if he really
wants to reach the truth, he goes higher than these, to a
plane where forms are as nothing. Temples or churches,
hooKr or forms, ate simply the kindergarten of rdigion, to
maVt the spiritual child strcmg enough to take higher steps;
and these first steps ate necessary if he wants religion.
With the thirst, the long^g for God, comes teal devotion,
real BhaktL Who has the Icmging? That is the question.
Rdigion is not in doctrines, in dogmas, nor in intellectual
argumentation ; it it being and becoming, it is realisation.
We hear so many talking about God and the soul, and all
the mysteries of the universe, but if you take them one by
one, 9uid ask them, "Have you realised God? Have you
seen your Soul?" — ^how many can say they have? And
yet they are all fighting with one another! At one time,
in India, representatives of different Sects met together
and began to dispute. One said that the only God was
Shiva ; another said, the only God was Vishnu, and so on ;
and there was no end to their discussion. A sage was
passing diat way, and was invited by the disputants to
dedde the matter. He first asked the man who was daim-
ing Shiva as the greatest God, "Have you seen Shiva?
Are you acquainted with Him ? If not, how do you know
He is the greatest God?” Then turning to the worshipper

11-4

44

SWAMI VIVQCANANnA'9 WOKKS

of Vishnu, he adied, "Have you seen Vishnu And
after asking this question to all of them, he found out that
not one of them knew anything of God. That was why
they were disputing so much, for had they really known,
they would not have argued. Whmi a jar is being filled
with water, it makes a noise, but when it is full, there
is no noise. So, the very fact of these di^utations and
fighting among sects diows that they do not know any-
thing about religion. Religion to them is a mere mass of
frothy words, to be written in books. Each one hurries to
write a big book, to make it as massive as possible, steal-
ing his materials from every book he can lay his hands
upon, and never acknowledging his indebtedness. Then
he launches this book upon the world, adding to the
disturbance that is already existing there.

The vast majority of men are atheists. I am glad that,
in modem times, another class of atheists has come into
existence in the Western world — mean the materialists.
They are sincere atheists. They are better than the reli-
gious atheists, who are insincere, who fig^t and talk about
religion, and yet do not want it, never try to realise it,
never try to understand it. Remember the words of Christ:
"Ask, and it shall be given you : seek, and ye shall
find : knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” These
words are literally true, not figures or fiction. They were
the outflow of the hean’s blood of one of the greatest sons
of God who have ever come to this world of ours ; words
which camp as the fruit of realisation, from a man who had
felt and realised God himself ; who had sptAen with God,
lived with God, a hundred times more intensdy than you
or I see this building. Who wants God ? That is the
question. Do you think that all this mass of pet^le in the
world want God, and cannot get Him? That cannot be.
What want is there.without its object outside? Man wants
to breathe, and there is air for him to breathe. Man
wants to eat, and there is food to eat. Wiat creates these

BHAKTI OR DEVOTION

45

d€$ires? The existence of external things. It was the
lig^t that made the eyes ; it was the sound that made the
ears. So every desire in human beings has been created
by $<»mething which already existed outside. This desire
for perfection^ for reaching the goal and getting beyond
nature^ how can it be there, until something has created it
and drilled it into the soul of man, and makes it live there?
He, therefore, in whom this desire is awakened, will reach
the goal. We want everything but God. This is not reli-
gion that you see all around you. My lady has furniture
in her parlour, from all over the world, and now it is the
fashion to have something Japanese ; so she buys a vase
and puts it in her room. Such is religion with the vast
majority ; they have all sorts of things for enjoyment, and
unless they add a little flavour of religion, life is not all
right, because society would criticise them. S<x:iety expects
it ; so they must have some religion. This is the present
state of rdigion in the world.

A disciple went to his master and said to him, **Sir,
1 want religion.” The master looked at the young man,
and did not speak, but only smiled. The young roan
came every day, and insisted that he wanted religion. But
the old man knew better than the young man. One day,
when it was very hot, he asked the young man to go to
the river with him and take a plunge. The young man
plunged in, and the old man followed him and held the
young man down under the water by force. After the
young man had struggled for a whiler he let him go and
asked him what he wanted most while he was under the
water. ”A breath of air”, the disciple answered. ”Do
you want God in that way? If you do, you will get Him
in a moment,” said the master. Until you have that thirst,
that desire, you cannot get religion, however you may
struggle with your intellect, or your books, or your fcurms.
Until that thirst is awakened in you, you are no better than
any atheist ; only the atheist is sincere, and you are not.

^aJkrlAhBA I'jJblio Llbtu*

46

SWAMI VIVERANANDA’» WORKS

A great sage used to say, "Suppose there is a thief in
a room, and somehow he comes to know that there is a
vast mass of gold in the next room, and that there is only
a thin partition between the two rooms. What would be
the condition of that thief? He would be sleepless, he
would not be able to eat or do anything. His whole mind
would be on getting that gold. Do you mean to say that,
if all these people really believed that the Mine of Happi-
ness, of Blessedness, of Glory were here, they would act
as they do in the world, without trying to get God?" As
soon as a man begins to believe there is a God, he be-
comes mad with longing, to get to Him. Others may go
their way, but as soon as a man is sure that there is a much
higher life than that which he is leading here, as soon as
he feels sure that the senses are not all, that this limited,
material body is as nothing compared with the immortal,
eternal, undying bliss of the Self, he becomes mad until
he finds out this bliss for himself. And this madness, this
thirst, this mania, is what is called the "awakening" to
religion, and when that has come, a man is beginning to
be religious. But it takes a long time. All these forms
and ceremonies, these prayers and pilgrimages, these
books, bells, candles, and priests, are the preparations ;
they take off the impurities from the soul. And when the
soul has become pure, it naturally wants to get to the
mine of all purity, God Himself. Just as a piece of iron,
which had been covered with the dust of centuries, mig^t
be lying near a magnet all the time, and yet not be
attracted by it, but as soon as the dust is cleared away, the
iron is drawn by the magnet ; so, when the human soul,
covered with the dust of ages, impurities, wickednesses, and
sins, after many births, becomes purified enough by these
forms and ceremonies, by doing good to others, loving
other beings, its natural spiritual attraction comes, it wakes
up and struggles towards God.

Yet, all these forms and symbols are simply the

BHAKTI OR DEVOlKm

47

b^ginning^ not tnie love of God. Love we hear spoken
of everywhere. Everyone says, “Love God." Men do not
know what it is to love : if they did, they would not talk
so g^Uy about it. Every man says he can love, and then,
in no time, finds out that there is no love in his nature.
Every woman says she can love and soon finds out that
she cannot. The world is full of the talk of love, but it is
hard to love. Where is love? How do you know that
there is love? The fint test of love is that it knows no
bargaining. So long as you see a man love another only
to get something from him, you know that that is not love ;
it is shopkeeping. Wherever there is any question of buying
and selling, it is not love. So, when a man prays to God,
“Give me this, and give me that”, it is not love. How can
it be? I offer you a prayer, and you give me something
in return ; that is what it is, mere shopkeeping.

A certain great king went to hunt in a forest, and there
he happened to meet a sage. He had a little conversa-
tion with him and became so pleased with him that he
asked him to accept a present from him. “No," said the
sage, “I am perfectly satisfied with my condition ; these
trees give me enough fruit to eat ; these beautiful pure
streams supply me with all the water I want ; I sleep in
these caves. What do I cate for your presents, though you
be an enqiermr?” The emperor said, “Just to purify me.
to gratify me, come with me into the city and take some
present." At last the sage consented to go with the
emperor, and he was taken into the emperor's palace,
where there were gcdd, jewellery, marble, and most
wtmderful things. Wealth and power were manifest
everywhere. The emperor asked the sage to wait a
minute, while he repeated his prayer, and he went into a
comer and began to pray, “Lord, give me more wealth,
more children, more territory." In the* meanwhile, the
sage got up and hegan to walk away. The emperor saw
him gmng and went after him. “Stay, Sir, you did not

48

swAia vnvRMuuioA's wchuks

Uke my present and are going away,” The sage turned
to him and said, “Beggar, I do not 1^ df beggars. What
can you give? You have been begging yourself all the
time.” That is not the language of love. What is the
difference between love and shopkeeping, if you ask God
to give you this, and give you that? The first test of love
is that it knows no bargaining. Love is always the giver,
and never the taker. Says the diild of God, “If God wants,
■1 ^ve Him my everything, but I do not want anything
of Him. I want nothing in this universe. I love Him,
because I want to love Him, and 1 ask no favour in return.
Who cares whether God is almighty or not? . I do not
want any power from Him nor any manifestation of His
power. Sufficient f(»r me that He is the God of love. I ask
no more question.”

The second test is that love knows no fear. So long
as man thinks of God as a Being sitting above the clouds,
with rewards in one hand and punishments in the other,
there can be no love. Can you frighten one into love?
Does the lamb love the lion? The mouse, the cat? The
slave, the master? Slaves sometimes simulate love, but is
it love? Where do you ever see love in fear? It is always
a sham. With love never comes the idea of fear. Think
of a young mother in the street: if a dog barks at her, she
flees into the nearest house. The next day she is in the
street with her child, and suf^ose a lion rushes upon the
child, where will be her position? Just at the mouth of the
lion, prot^ting her diild. Love amquered all her fear.
So also in the love of God. Who cares whether God is a
rewarder or a punisher? That is not the thought of a lover.
Think of a judge when he comes home, what does lus wife
see in him? Not a Judge, or a rewarder or punishar, but
her husband, her love. What do his children see in him?
Their loving father, not the punisher or rewarder. So
die children of God never see in Him a punisher or a
rewarder. It is only people who have never tauted of

BHAKlt OB OEVOTIOK

4d

love that fear and quake. Cast off all fear— thou|^ these
horrible ideas dt God as a punisher or rewarder may have
their use in savage minds. Some men, even the most
intellectual, aie spiritual savages, and these ideas may help
them. But to men who are spiritual, men who are
approaching religion, in whom spiritual insight is
awakened, such ideas are simply childish, simply foolish.
Such men reject all ideas of fear.

The thM is a still higher test. Love is always the
highest ideal. When one has passed through the first
two stages, when one has thrown off all shopkeeping, and
cast off all fear, one then begins to realise that love is
always the highest ideal. How many times in this world
we see a beautiful woman loving an ug^y man? How many
times we see a handsome man loving an ugly woman!
What is the attraction ? Lookers-on only see the ugly man
or the ugly woman, but not so the lover ; to the lover the
beloved is the most beautiful being that ever existed. How
is it ? The woman who loves the ugly man takes, as it
were, the ideal of beauty which is in her own mind, and
projects it on this ugly man ; and what she worships and
loves is not the ugly man, but her own ideal. That man
is, as it were, only the suggestion, and upon that sugges-
tion she throws her own ideal, and covers it; and it
becomes her object of worship. Now, this applies in
every case where we love. Many of us have very ordinary
Icmking brothers or sisters ; yet the very idea of their being
brothers or sisters makes them beautiful to us.

The philosophy in the background is that each one
projects his own ideal and worships that. This external
world is only the worid of suggestion. All that we see,
we project out of our own minds. A grain of sand gets
washed into the shell of an oyster and irritates it. The
irritation produces a secretion in the oyster, which covers
the grain of sand and the beautiful pearl is the result.
Similarly, external things furnish us with suggestions, over

^nUcrlabim Llbmum

so

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WQlUS

which we project our own ideal* and make our objectAi .
The wicked see this world as a petfwt hdl, and the gohd
as a perfect heaven. Lovers see this would as bill of love^
and haten as full of hatted ; fighters see nothing hut strife,
and the peaceful nothing but peace. The perfect man sees
nothing but God. So we always wmrdiip our h^h^ ided.
and when we have reached the point, when we love the
ideal as the ideal, all arguments and doubts vanish ior
ever. Who cares whether God can be demonstramd or
not? The ideal can never go, because it is a part of my
own nature. 1 shall only question the ideal whoi I question
my own existence, and as I cannot question the <me, I
cannot question the other. Who cares whether God can
be almighty and all-merciful at the same time or not ?
Who cares whether He is the rewarder of mankind,
whether He looks at us with the eyes of a tyrant or with
the eyes of a beneficent monarch?

The lover has passed beyond all these things, beyond
rewards and punishments, beyond fears and doubts,
beyond scientific or any other demonstration. Sufficient
unto him is the ideal of love, and is it not self-evident that
this universe is but a manifestation of this love? What is
it that makes atoms unite with atcnns, molecules with
molecules, and causes planets to fly towards eadi other?
What is it that attracts man to man, man to woman,
woman to man, and animals to animals, drawing the whole
universe, as it were, towards one centre ? It is what is
called love. Its manifestation is bom the lowest atom to
the highest being: omnipotent, all-pervading; is this love.
What manifests itself as attractimi in the sentient and the
insentient, in the particular and in the universal, is the
love of God. It is the one motive power that is in the
universe. Under the impetus of that lov^ Qnist gives his
life for humanity, Buddha even for an anhnal, the moth^
for the child, the husband fcnr the wife. It is upider the
impetus of the same love that men ate ready to. up

BHAKTl OR DEVOTION

51

their lives for their country, and strange to say, under the
impetus of the same love, the thief steals, tte murderer
murders. Even in these cases, the qpirit is the same, but
the manifestation is different. This is the one motive
power in the universe. The thief has love for gold ; the
love is there, but it is misdirected. So, in all crimes, as
well as in all virtuous actions, behind stands that eternal
love. Suppose a man writes a cheque for a thousand
dollars for the poor of New York, and at the same time,
in the same room, another man fmrges the name of a
friend. The light by which both of them write is the
sam^ but each one will be responsible for the use be
makes of it. It is not the light that is to be praised or
blamed. Unattached, yet diining in everything; is love,
the motive power of the universe, without which the
universe would fall to pieces in a moment, and this love is
God.

"Ntme, O beloved, loves the husband for the
husband’s sake, but for the Self that is in the husband ;
none, O beloved, ever loves the wife for the wife’s sake,
but for the Self that is in the wife. None ever loves
anything else, except for the Self.” Even this selfishness,
which is so much condemned, is but a manifestation of
the same love. Stand aside frmn this play, do not mix
in it, but see this wonderful panorama, this grand drama,
played scene after scene, and hear this wonderful
hanncmy; all are the manifestatitm of the same love.
Even in selfishness, that self will multiply, grow and grow.
That one self, the one man, will become two selves when
be gets married ; several, when he gets children ; and thus
he grows until he feels the whole world as his Self, the
whole universe as his Self.' He expands into one mass of
universal love, infinite love — the love that is God.

Thus we come to what is calfod supreme Bhakti,
supreme devotion, in which forms and symbols fall off.
One who has readied that cannot belong to any sect, for

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA** WOUtS

all sects aie in him. To what shall he belong? For all
churches and temples are in him. Where is the dnmh
big enou^ for him ? Such a man cannot bind hunsdf
down to certain limited forms. Where is die limit for
unlimited love, with which he has become one ? In all
religions which take up this ideal of love, we find die
struggle to express it. Although we understand what this
love means and see that everything in this world of affM-
lions and attracticms is a manifestation of that Infinite
Love, the expression of whidi has been attempted by
sages and saints of different nadons, yet we find them
using all the powers of language, transfiguring even the
most carnal expression into the divine.

Thus sang the royal Hebrew sage, thus sang they of
India. "O bdoved, one kiss of Thy lipsl Kissed by
Thee, one's thirst for Thee increaseth for ever! All
sorrows cease, one forgets the past, present, and future,
and only thinks of Thee alone." That is the madness of
die lover, when all desires have vanished. "Who cares
for salvation ? Who cares to be saved ? Who cares to be
perfect even ? Who cates for freedom ?” — says the lover.
“I do not want wealth, nor even health ; I do hot
want beauty, I do not want intellect: let me be bom
again and again, amid all the evils that are in the world :
I will not complain, but let me love Thee, and that for
love’s sake."

That is the madness of love which finds expression in
these songs. The highest, most expressive, strongest, and
most attractive human love is that between man and
woman, and, therefore, that language was used in eiqireas*
ing the deepest, devotion. The madness of this human
love was the faintest echo of the mad love of the taints.
The true lovers of God want to become mad, inebriated
with the love of God, to become "God-intoxicated men".
They want to drink of the cup of love whidi has been
prepared by the saints and sages of every rdigion, who

bhakh or devotion

M'

have pMnned thdr heart’s blood into it, and in whidi have
been concentrated all the hopes oE those who have loved
God without sediing reward, who wanted love for itself
only. The reward trf love is love, and what a reward it
is! It is the only thing that takes off all scnrows, the only
cop, by die drinking of which this disease of the world
vanishes. Man becomes divindy mad and fcngets that
he is man.

Lastly, we find that all these various systems, in the
end, conveige to that one point, that perfect union. We
always begin as dualists. God is a separate Being, and
1 am a separate being. Love comes between, and man
begins to approach God, and God, as it were, begpns to
approach man. . Man takes up all the various relation-
ships of life, as father, mother, friend, or lover ; and the
last point is readied when he becomes one with the object
of worship. “I am you, and you are I ; and worshipping
you, I worship myself; and in worshipping myself, I
worship you.” There we find the highest culmination of
that with which man bq;ins. At the beginning it was
love for the self, but the daims of the little self made
love selfish ; at the end came the full blaze of light, when
that self had become the Infinite. That God who at first
was a Being somewhere, became resolved, as it were, into
Infinite Love. Man himself was also transformed. He
was approaching God, he was throwing off all vain
desires, of which he was full before. With desires
vanished sdfishness, and, at the apex, he found that
Love, Lover, and Beloved were One.

JNANA^YOOA

THE NECESSITY OF REUGION
(Delivered in London)

Of all the forces that have worked and are still work-
ing to mould the destinies of the human race, none,
certainly, is more potent than that, the manifestation of
which we call religion. All social oiganisaticms have as a
background, somewhere, the workings of that peculiar
force, and the greatest odiesive impulse ever brought into
play amongst human units has been derived from this
power. It is obvious to all of us that in very many cases
the bonds of religion have proved stronger than the bonds
of race, or climate, or even of descent. It is a well-known
fact that persons wordiipping the same God, believing in
the same religion, have stood by each other, with much
greater strength and constancy, than people of merely
the same descent, or even brothen. Various attempts
have been made to trace the beginnings of religion. In
all the ancient religions which have come down to us at
the present day, we find one claim made — that they ate
all supernatural, that their genesis is not, as it were, in
the human brain, but that they have originated some-
where outside of it

Two theones have gained some acceptance amongst

modem scholan. One is the spirit theory of religion,

the other the evolution of the idea of the Infinite. One
%

party mamtuinf that ancestor worship is the beginning
of religous ideas; the other, that religion originates in
the personification of the powers of nature. Man wants
to keep up the memory of his dead relatives and thinks
they are living even when the body is dissolved, and he
wants to place food for them and, in a certain sense, to
wtwriiip foem. Out of that came the growth we call
idigion.

UMnnMftv*

Dublin Libnvn

SWAM VIVEKANANnA’S W<»XS

Studying the andent rdigions o£ the Egypthuu, Baby^
lonians, Chinese, and many other races in America and
elsewhere, we find very dear traces of this ancestor
worship being the beginning of rdigion. With the andent
Egyptians, the fint idea of the soul was that of a douUe.
Every human body contained in it another being very
similar to it ; and when a man died, this double went out
of the body and yet lived (m. But the life of the double
lasted only so long as the dead body remained intact, and
that is why we find among the Egyptians so much solici-
tude to keep the body uninjured. And that is idiy they
built those huge pyramids in which they preserved the
bodies. For, if any portion of the external bixly was hurt,
the double would be conespondingly injured. This is
dearly ancestor wordiip. With the andent Babylonians
we find the same idea of the double, but with a variation.
The double lost all sense of love ; it frightened the living
to give it food and drink, and to hdp it in various ways.
It even lost all afEection for its own children and its own
wife. Among the andent Hindus also, we find traces of
this ancestor worship. Among the Chinese, the basis of
their religion may also be said to be ancestor worship, and
it still permeates the length and breadth of that vast
country. In fact, the only rdigion that can really be said
to flourish in China is that of ancestor worship. Thus it
seems, on the one hand, a very good positim is made out
for those who hold the theory of ancestor worship as the
beginning of religion.

On the other hand, there are scholars who from the
ancient Aryan literature show that rdigion originated in
nature worship. Although in India we find proofs of
ancestor worship everywhere, yet in the oldest records
there is no trace of it whatsoever. In the Rig^Veda
Samhitf, the most andent reemd of the Aryan race, we
do not find any trace of it. Modem scholars thinlE* it is
the worship of nature that they find there. The human

TRi raKssary ot religion »

mind Mtini to strafe to get a peep bdiind die icaiei.
The daim, die evening, the hunicane, the atupendona
and gigandc fioiees of nature, its beauties, these have
exercised the human mind, and it aspires to go beyond,
to understand something about them. In the struj^e they
endow these phenomma with personal attributes, giving
them souls and bodies, sometimes beautiful, sometimes
transcendent. Every attempt ends by these phenomena
becmning abstractions whether personalised or not. So
also it is found with the ancient Greeks: their whole
mythology is simply this abstracted nature worship. So
also with the ancient Germans, the Scandinavians, and all
the other Aryan races. Thus, on this side, too, a very
strong case has been made out, that religion has its origin
in the personification of the powers of nature.

These two views, though they seem to be ointra'
dictmy, can be reconciled on a third basis, which, to my
mind, is the real germ of religion, and that I propose to
call the strugg^ to transcend the limitations of the senses.
Either, man goes to seek for the ^irits of his ancestors,
the ^irits of the dead, that is, he wants to get a glimpse
of what there is aftor the body is disscdved, or, he desires
to understand t^e power working behind the stupendous
|dienomena of nature. 'Whichever of these is the case,
one thing is certain, that he tries to transcend the limita-
tions of the senses. He cannot remain satisfied with his
senses ; he- wants to go beyond them. The explanatitm
need not be mysterious. To me it seems very natural
that the first glimpse of rdigion should come througb
dreams. The first idea of immortality man may well get
through dreams. Is that not a most wonder&il sute ?
And we know that dhildien and untutored minds find very
little difference between dreaming and their awakened
sute. What can be .more naniral than that they find, as
nmural logic, dut even during the deep state vriben the
body is i^iparently dead, die mind goes on with all its

IE-«

00 SWAM! VIVUANANDA’S WOMU

intricate workings ? 'What wonder that men wHl at once
o»ne to the condusicm that when thia body is dissolved
for ever, the same working will go on ? Thit, to my mind,
would be- a more natural explanation of the snpeinataral,
and through this dream idea the human mind rises to
higher and higher conceptions. Of course, in time, the
vast majority of mankind found out that these dnams
are not' verified by their waking states, and that during
the dream state it is not that man has a fresh existence,
but simply that he recapitulates the experiences of the
awakened state.

But by this time the search had b^n, and the
search was inward, and man continued inquiring- more
deeply into the different stages <ff the mind and dis-
covered higher states than cither the wakii^ or the
dreaming. This state of things we find in all the organised
religions of the world, called either ecstasy or inqsira-
tion. In all organised religioiu, their founders, prophets,
and messengers are declared to have gone into states of
mind that were neither waking nor deeping, in which
they came face to face with a new series of facts relating
to what is railed the spiritual kingdom. They realised
things there much more intensely than we realise facts
around us in our waking state. Take, for instance, the
religions of the Br&hmins. The Vedas are said to be
written by Rishis. These Rtshis were sages who realised
certain facts. The exact definition of the Sanskrit
word Rishi is a Seer of Mantras— of the thoughts
conveyed in the Vedic hymns. These men declared that
they had realised — sensed, if that word can be used with
regard to the supersensuous — certain facts, and these
facts they proceeded to put on record. We' find the
same truth declared amongst both the Jews -and the
Christians.

Some exceptions may be taken in the case <ff the
Buddhists as represented by the Southern sect. It may

THE NECESSITY OF RELIGION

61

he asked — ^if the Buddhists do not bdieve in any God or
soul, how can their religion.be derived from the super*
sensuous state of existence ? The answer to this is that
even the Buddhists find an eternal moral law, and that
moral law ivas not reasoned out in our sense of the word.
But Buddha found it, discovered it, in a supersensuous
state. Those of you Who have studied the life of Buddha,
even as briefly given in that beautiful poem. The Light of
Asia, may remember that Buddha is represented as sitting
under the Bo-tree until he reached that supersensuous
state of mind. All his teachings came through this, and not
through intellectual cogitations.

Thus, a tremendous statement is made by all religions;
that the human mind, at certain moments, transcends not
only the limitations of the senses, but also the power of
reasoning. It then comes face to face with facts which it
could never have sensed, could never have reasoned out.
These facts are the basis of all the religions of the world.
Of course we have the right to challenge these facts, to
put them to the test of reason. Nevertheless, all the existing
religions of the world daim for the human mind this
peculiar power of transcending the limits of the senses and
the limits of reason ; and this power they put forward as
a statement of fact.

Apart from the consideration of the question how far
these facts daimed by religions are true, we find one
characteristic ctnnmon to them all. They are all abstrac-
tions as contrasted with the conefete discoveries of
physics, for instance ; and in all the highly organised
religions they take the purest form of Unit Abstraction,
either in the form of an Abstracted Presence, as an
Omnipresent Being; as an Abstract Personality called
God, as a Moral Law, or in the form of an Abstract
Essence underlying every existence. In modem times,
too, the attemptt made to preach religions without
appealing to the supersensuous state of the mind have

OEM'

f •UtrlBhatt Fublw

«

SWAMl V1VEKANANDA<S WOMS

had to .take up the old atMtractkun oC the Ancieats and
give different names to them as "Moral Law*', the
“Ideal Unity’’, and so forth, thus diowing that these
abstractions are not in the senses. N<me of us have yet
seen an “Ideal Human Being”, and yet we are told to
believe in it. None of us have yet seen an ideally perfect
man, and yet without that ideal we cannot progress.
Thus, this one fact stands out from all these different
rdigions, that there is an |deal Unit Abstraction, which
is put before us, either in the form of a Person or an
Impersonal Being, or a Law, or a Presents, or an
Essence. We are always struggling to raise ourselves up
to that ideal. Every human being, whosoever and where-
soever he may be, has an ideal of infinite power. Every
human being has an ideal of infinite pleasure. Most of
the works that we find around us, the aaivities displayed
everywhere, are due to the struggle for this infinite power
or this infinite pleasure. But a few quidkly discover that
although they are struggling for infinite power, it is not
through the senses that it can be reached. They find out
very soon that that infinite pleasure is not to be got through
the senses, or, in other words, the senses are too limited,
and the body is too limited, to express the Infinite. To
manifest the Infinite through the finite is impossible, and
sooner or later, man learns to give up the attempt to
express the Infinite through the finite. This giving up,
this renunciation of the attempt, is the badigroiuid of
ethics. Renunciation is the very bads upon which ethics
stands. There never was an ethical code preadied which
had not renunciation for its basis.

Ethics always says, “Not I, but thou.” Its motto is,
“Not self, but non-self.” *1110 vain ideas of individualism,
to which man clings when he is tryiiq' to find that Infiidte
Power or that Infinite Measure through the senses, httve
to be given up— say the laws of ethks. You have to put
yourself last, and others befoce you. The sensea say.

imMiOEaiiTy or izLicaoN 49

'*Myaelf fitat*' Etliia *sy», "I must hold myadtf last”
That idl codes of ^hics. am based tqxm diis senuo*
datiM ; destruction, not oonstructkm, <d the indtvidaal
on the material plane. That Idbiite wfll never find
ejqwession upon the material plane, nor is it posuble or
thinkri>le.

So, man has to give up the plane of matter and rise
to other apheres to seek a deeper expression of that
Infinite. In this-way the various ethical laws are being
moulded, but all have that one central idea, eternal self-
abnegation. Perfect self-annihilation is the' ideal of
ethics. Pe<^le are startled if they are asked not to think
<rf their indlvidualiUes. They seem so very much afraid
of losing what they call their individuality. At the tame
time, the same mm would declare the hig^t ideals of
ethics to be rig^t, never for a moment thinking that the
scope, the goal, the idea oi all ediks is the destruction, and
not the building up, the individual.

Utilitarian standards cannot explain the ethical
relations of men, for, in the first place, we cannot doive
any ethical laws from consideraUons of utility. Without
the supernatural sanction as it it called, or the percep-
tion of the superconscious as I prefer to term it, there
can be no ethics. Without the struggle towards the
Infinite there can be no ideal. Any system that wants
to bind men down- to the limits of their own societies is
not able to find an explanatitm for the ethical laws of
mankind. The Utilitarian wants us to give up the
struggle after the Infinite, the reaching-out for the Super-
sensuous, as impracticable and absurd, and, in the same
breathf adu us to take up ethics and do good to society.
Why should we do good? Doing good is a secondary
consideratitm. We must have an ideal. Ethics itself is
not the end, but ^ means to the md. If the end is not
drere, vdiy diould we be ethical ? Why diould 1 do good
to oriier mm, and not injure them ? If happiness is the

64

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

goal of mankind, why should I not make mytelf happy
and others unhappy ? What prevents me ^ In dte
second place, the basu o£ utility is too narrow. All die
current social forms and methods are derived from society
as it exists, but what right has the Utilitarian to assume
that society is eternal ? Society did not exist ages ago,
possibly will not exist ages hence. Most probably it is
one of the passing stages throu^ which we are going
towards a higher evolution, and any law that is derived
from society alone cannot be eternal, cannot cover the
whole ground of man's nature. At best, therefore.
Utilitarian theories can only work under pfesent social
conditions. Beyond that they have no value. But a
morality, an ethical code, derived from religion and
spirituality, has the whole of infinite man for its scope. It
takes up the individual, but its relations are to the Infinite,
and it takes up society also— because society is nothing
but numbers of these individuals grouped together ; and
as it applies to the individual and his eternal relations, it
must necessarily apply to the whole of society, in what-
ever condition it may be at any given time. Thus we
see that there is always the necessity of qiiritual religion
for mankind. Man cannot always think of matter,
however pleasurable it may be.

It has been said that too much attention to things
spiritual disturbs our practical relations in this world. As
far back as^in the days oi the Chinese sage Confucius,
it was said,- "Let us take care of this world: and then,
when we have finished with this world, we will take care
of other world.” It is very well that we should take care
of this worid. But if too much attention to the spiritual
may affect a little our practkal relations, too much atten^
tkm to the so-called practical hurts us here and hereafter.
It makes us materialistic. For man is not to regard nature
at his goal, but something higher.

Man is man so tong as he is struggjting to rise above

niB NKBssmr or reucion «

Mrfutv, and thii nature ie both intemal and external. Not
only does it compriie the laws that govern the particles oC
nuttier outside us and in our bodies, but also the more
subde nature svithin, sshidi is> in fact, the motive power
governing the cxtenud. It is good and very grand to
conquer extetiul nature, but grander still to conquer our
internal luture. It is grand and good to know the laws
that govern the stars and planets : it is infinitely grander
and better to know the laws that govern the passions, the
feelii^ the will, of mankind. This conquering of die
inner man, understanding the secrets of the subtle work-
ings that are within the human mind, and knowing its
wonderful secrets, belong entirely to religion. Human
nature — the tndinary human nature, I mean— wants to ce
big material facts. The ordinary man cannot understand
anything that is subtle. Well has it been said that the
masses admire the lion that kills a thousand lambs, never
for a moment thinking that it is death to the lambs,
although a momentary triumph few the lion; because
they find fdeasure only in manifestations of physical
strength. Thus it is with the ordinary run of mankind.
They understand and find pleasure in everything that is
external. But in every society there is a section whose
pleasures are not in the senses, but beyond, and who
now and then catch glimpses of something higher than
matter and struggle to reach it. And if we read the history
of natitms between the lines, we shall always find that
the rise of a nation otmies with an inclease in the number
of such men ; and the fall begins when this pursuit after
the Infinite, however vain Utilitarians may call it, has
ceased. That is to say, the mainspring of the strength of
every race lies in its qiirituality. and the death of that
race b^ins the day that spirituality wanes and materialism
gains ground.

Thus, apart firom the solid facts and truths that we
may learn trom idigion, apart from the comforts that we

ae

SWAIO yiVEKANANQA^ WOUMS

may gain from it, idigicm, as a science, as a study, is
greatest and healthiest exeidse that the lunoan ndnd can
have. This pursuit of the Infinite, this stride to gra^
the Infinite, this effort to get beyond the Mmitathws of the
senses— out of matter, as it were— and to evolve the
spiritual man — this striving day and nij^t to make the
Infinite one with our being— this sbug^ itsdf is the
grandest and most glorious that man can make. Some
persons find the greatest pleasure in eating. We have no
rig^t to say that they should not. Others find the greatest
pleasure in possessing certain thii^. We have no rij^t
to say that they should not. But they also have no right to
say “no" to the man who finds his highest pleasure in
spiritual thought The lower the organisatkm, the greater
the pleasure in the senses. Very few men can cat. a meal
with the same gusto as a dog or a wolf. But all the
pleasures (rf the dog or the wolf have gone, as it were
into the senses. The lower types of humanity in all
nations find pleasure in the senses, while the cultured
and the educated find it in thought, in philosophy, in
arts and sciences. Spirituality is a still higher plane. The
subject being infinite, that plane is the highest, and the
pleasure there is the highest for those who can appre*
date it. So, even on the utilitarian ground that man is
to seek for pleasure, he should cultivate religious thought,
for it is the highest pleasure that exists. Thus relipon, as
a study, seems to me to be absolutely necessary.

We can 'see it in its effects. It is the greatest motive
power that moves the human mind. No other ideal can
put into us the same mass of energy as the spiritual. So
far as human history goes, it is obvious to all of us that
this has been tbe case and that its powers ate not dead.
I do not deny that men, on simply utilitarian grounds, can
be very good and moral. There have been many great
men in this world perfectly sound, moral, and good, simply
on utilitarian grounds. But the wotld'inovers, men who

rm NBCzsanY or Kiucufm m

brii^, as it were, a inaa of nu^etiim into the
whose q^t woriu in hundreds and in thousands, whose
life ignites others with a quritual • fire — siich men. we
always find, have that q»iritu«d bachgtonnd. Their motive
power came from religicm. Rel%ion is the greatest motive
power for realising that infinite energy vdiich is the birth*
right and nature of every man. In building up character,
in making for everything that is good and great, in
bringing peace to others and peace to one’s own sdf.
religion is the highest motive pcnver and, therefore, ought
to be studied from that standpoint Religion must be
studied on a broader basis than fmmerly. All narrow,
limited, fighting ideas of religion have to go. All sect
ideas and tribal or national ideas of religion must be
given up. That each tribe or natitm should have its own
particular God and think that every other is wrong is a
superstition that should belong to the past. All, such ideas
must be abandoned.

As the human mind broadens, its spiritual steps
broaden too. The time has already come when a man
cannot record a thought without its reaching to all comers
of the earth ; by merely physical meaiu, we have come into
touch with the whole world ; so the future religioiu of the
world have to become as universal, as wide.

The religious ideals of the future must embrace all
that exists in the world and is good and great, and, at the
same time, have infinite scope for future development. All
that was good in the past must be preserved; and
the doors must be kept open for future additions to the
already existing store. Religions must also be inclusive,
and npt look down Vrith contempt upon one another,
because their particular ideals of God are different. In
my life I have seen a great many spiritual men, a great
many sensible persons, who did not believe in God at all,
that is to say, not in our sense of the word. Perhaps
they understood God better than we can ever do. The

SWAMl VIVEKANAMDA’S WORKS

Penonal idea of God or the Impersonal, the Infinite,
Moral Law, or the Ideal Man— them aU have to cone
under the definition of rdigion. And when religions have
become thus broadened, their power for good will have
inaeased a hundredfold. Religions, having tremendous
power in them, have often done more injury to the worid
than good, simply on account of their narrowness and
limitations.

Even at the present time we find many sects and
societies, with almost the same ideas, fighting each other,
because one does not want to set forth those ideas in
precisely the same way as another. Therefore, religions
will have to broaden. Religious ideas will have to become
univetsal, vast, and infinite ; and then alone we shall have
the fullest play of religion, for the power of religion has
only just begun to manifest in the world. It is sometimes
said that religions are dying out, that ^iritual ideas are
dying out of the world. To me it seems that they have
just begun to grow. The power of religion, broadened
and purifi^, is going to penetrate every part of human
life. So long as religion was in the hands of a chosen
few or of a body of priests, it was in temples, churches,
books, dogmas, ceremonials, forms, and rituals. But when
we come to the real, spiritual, universal concept, then,
and then alone, religion will become real and living ; it
will come into our very nature, live in our every move-
ment, penetrate every pore of our society, and be infinitely
more a power for good than it has ever been before.

What is needed is a fellow-feeling between the
diffeient types of religion, seeing that they all stand or
fall together, a fellow-feeling which q>rii^ from mutual
esteem and mutual respect, and not the ccmdescending,
patronising, niggardly expression of goodwill, unfortu-
nately in vogue at the present time with many. And
above all, this is needed between types of • religious
expression coming from the study of mental phenomena —

THE NKXSSnY OF RELIGION ' W

onfoitonatdy, even now laying exclusive daim to the
name of idigion — and those expressions of religion whose
heads, as it were, are penetrating mtHe into the secrets
of heaymi though their feet are dinging to earth, I mean,
the so<alled materialistic sdences.

To bring about this harmony, both will have to make
concessions, sometimes very large, nay more, sometimes
painful, but each will find itself the better for the sacrifice
and more advanced in truth. And in the end, the
knowledge which is confined within the domain of time
and space will meet and become one with that which is
beyond them both, where the mind and senses cannot
reach — the Absolute, the Infinite, the One without a
second.

Vuu'io

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN

(Delivered in London)

Great is the tenacity with which man clings to the
senses.' Yet, however substantial he may think the
external world in which he lives and moves, there comes
a time in the lives of individuals and of races when, in-
vcduntarily, they adi, "‘Is this real?" To the person who
never finds a moment to question the credentials of his
senses, whose every moment is occupied with some sort
of sense^njoyment — even to him death comes, and he
also is omipelled to ask, "Is this real Religion begins
with this question and ends with its answer. Even in the
remote past, where recorded history cannot help us, in
the mysterious lig^t of mythology, back in the dim twilight
of civilisation, we find the same question was asked,
"What becomes of this ? 'What is real ?”

One of the most poetical of the Upanishads, the Katha
Upanishad, begins with the inquiry: "When a man dies,
there is a dispute. One party declares that be has gone
for ever, the other insists that he is still living. Which is
true ?" 'Various answers have been given. The whole
sphere of metaphysics, philosophy, and religion is really
filled with various answers to this question. At the same
time, attempts have been made to suppress it, to put a
stop to the unrest of mind which asks, "'What is beyond ?
'What is real ?” But so long as death remains, all these
attempts at suppression will always prove to be. unsuccess-
ful We may talk about seeing nothing beyond and
keeping all our hopes and aspirations confined to the
pKsent moment, and struggle hard not to think of anything
beyond the world of senses : and, perhaps, everything out-
side helps to keep us limited within its narrow bounds.

I lia UAL MATflftE or MAN T1

'nue whdlft ivorld nuiy combine to prevent os frtmi
broadening out beyond the presaat. Yet» ao long as there
is death, the question must come again and again, '‘Is
death the and of all these things to wfaidi we are dinging,
as if they were the most reel of all realities, the most
substantial of all substances The woild vanishes in a
mmnent and is gone. Standing on the brink of a predpioe
beyond which is the infinite yawning diasm, every mind,
however hardened, is bound to recoil and adc, “Is this
real ?" The hopes of a lifetime, built up little by little
with all the energies a great mind, vanish in a second.
Are they real ? This question must be answered. Time
never lessens its power ; on the other hand, it adds
strength to it

Tlien there is the desire to be happy. We run after
everything to make ourselves happy ; we pursue our mad
career in the external world dt senses. If you ask the
young man with whom life is successful, he will dedare
that it is real : and he really thinks so. Perhaps, when
the same man grows old and finds fmtune ever eluding
him, he will then dedare that it is fate. He finds at last
that his desires cannot be fulfilled. Wherever he goes,
there is an adamantine wall beyond which he cannot pass.
Every sense^ctivity results in a reaction. Everything is
evanescent. Enjoyment, misery, luxury, wealth, power,
and poverty, even life itself, are all evanescent.

IVo positimu ronain to mankind. One is to believe
with the nihilists diat all is nothing, that we know nothing,
that we can never know anything either about the future,
the past, or even the present. For we must rememba
that he who denies the past and the future and wants to
stick to the present is shnply a madman. One may as
wdl deny the father and mother and assert the child. It
would be equally h^cal. To deny the past and future,
the present must inevitably be denied also. This is one
position, that of the nihilists. I have never seen a man

72

SWAMl VIVEKANANOA'S WORKS

who could really beoHne a nihilist for (me minute. It is
vary easy to talk.

Then there is the other position — to seek fot an
explanati(m, to seek for the real, to discover in the midst
of this eternally changing and evanescent world whatever
is real. In this body which is an aggregate of molecules
of matter, is there anything which is real ? This has been
the search throughout the history of the human mind. In
the very oldest times, we often find glimpses of lig^t
coming into men’s minds. We find man, even then,
going a step beyond this body, finding something which
is not this external body, although very much like it,
much more complete, much more perfect, and which
remains even Avhen this body is dissolved. We read in
the hymns of the Rig-Veda, addressed to the God of Fire
who is burning a dead body, “Garry him, O Fire, in your
arms gently, give him a perfect body, a bright body, carry
him where the fathers live, where there is no more
sorrow, where there is no more death.” The same idea
you will find present in every religion. And we get another
idea with it. It is a significant fact that all religions,
without one exception, hold that man is a d^neration
of what he was, whether they clothe this in mythological
words, or in the clear language of philosophy, or in the
beautiful expressions of poetry. This is the one fact that
comes out of every scripture and of every mythology
that the man that is, is a degeneration of what he was.
This is the kernel of truth within the story of Adam’s fall
in the Jewish scripture. This is again and again repeated
in the scriptures of the Hindus; the dream of a period
which they call the Age of Truth, when no man died unless
he wished to die, when he could keep his body as Icmg as
he li.i'^, and his mind was pure and strong. There was
no evil and no misery ; and the present age is a corrup-
tion of that state of perfection. Side by side with this,
we find the story of the deluge everywhere. That story

THE HEAL NATURE OF MAN 78

iuelf is a proof that this present age is held to be a
comqptaon of a fonner age by every religion. It ivent on
becoaui^ more and more corrupt until the deluge swept
away a large portion of mankind^ and again the ascending
series began. IC is going up slowly again to reach once
more that early state of purity. You are all aware of the
story of the deluge in the Old. Testament. The same
story was current among the ancient Babylonians, the
Egyptians, the Chinese, and the Hindus. Manu, a great
ancient sage, was praying on the bank of the Ganga,
when a little minnow came to him for protection, and he
put it into a pot of water he had before him. “What do
you want ?** asked Manu. The little minnow declared he
was pursued by a bigger fish and wanted protection.
Manu carried the little fish to his home, and in the
morning he had become as big as the pot and said, “1
cannot live in this pot any longer*'. Manu put* him in a
tank, and the next day he was as big as the tank and
declared he could not live there any more. So Manu had
to take him to a river, and in the morning the fish filled
the river. Then Manu put him in the ocean, and he
declared, “Manu, I am the Creator of the universe. I
have taken this form to come and warn you that 1 will
deluge the world. You build an ark and in it put a pair
of every kind of animal, and let your family enter the
ark, and there will project out of the water my horn.
Fasten the ark to it ; and when the deluge subsides, come
out and people the earth." So the nvorld was deluged,
and Manu saved his own family and two of every kind of
animal and seeds of every plant. When the deluge sub-
sided, he came and peopled the world ; and wc are all
called “man", because we are the progeny of Manu.

Now, human language is the attempt to express the
truth that is within. I am fully persuaded that a baby
whose language consists of unintelligible sounds is
attempting to express the highest philosophy, only the

Vublw

74 SWAM VIVBKANANDA'S WOMCa

baby has not the organs to N(|ttess it nor the means,!
The difference between the language of the big^icst
philosophers and the utterances cff bahies is one of degree
and not of kind. What you call, the most correct,
systematic, mathematical language of the present time,
and the hazy, mystical, mythological languages of the
ancients, differ only in d^;ree. All of them have a grand
idea behind, which is, as it were, strug^ng to. express
itself ; and often behind these andent mythology are
nuggets of truth ; and often, 1 am sorry to say, behind the
fine, polished phrases of the modems is arrant trash.
So, we need not throw a thing overboard because it is
dothed in mythology, because it does not fit in with the
notions of Mr. So-and>so or Mrs. So-and-so of modem
times. If people should laug^ at religion because most
rdigions dedare that men must believe in mythologies
taught by such and such a prophet, they ouj^t to laug^
more at these modems. In modem times, if a man
quotes a Moses or a Buddha or a Christ, he is laughed
at : but let him give the name of a Huxley, a Tyndall,
or a Darwin, and it is swallowed without salt. "Huxley
has said it”, that is enough for many. We are free from
superstitions indeed! That was a religious superstition,
and this a scientific superstition ; only, in and through
that superstition came life-giving ideas of spirituality ; in
and through this modem supentition come lust and greed.
That superstition was wordrip of God, and this supersti-
tion is wbrship filthy lucre, of fame or power. Hiat
is the difference.

To return to mythology. Behind all these stories we
find <me idea standiUg supreme— that man is a degenera-
tion of what he was. Ckmiing to the present tiiiies, modem
research seems to repudiate this position absidutdy.
Evolutionists seon to contradict entirdy this assertkm.
Accmding to them, man is the evolution foe mollUK ;
and, therefore, what mythology states cannot be true.

THE REAL MATURE OF MAN

n

Tbece it in ^idta, howarer, a mythcdogy whidi U iMc to
xeooncfle both these positkHis. The Indian mythtdogy has
a theory of cydes, that all progression is in ^ fmrm
wavea Every wave is attended by a fall, and that by a
rise the next moment, that by a fall in the next, and again
another rise. The motion is in cydes. Certainly it is true,
even on the grounds of modem research, that man cannot
be simply an evolution. Every evolution presupposes an
involution. The modem sdentific man will tell you that
you can only get the amount of energy out of a machine
which you have previously put into it. Something dinnot
be produced out of nothing. If a man is an evolution of
the mollusc, then the perfect man — the Buddha-man, the
Christ-man — was involved in the mollusc. If it is not so,
whence come these gigantic personalities ? Something
cannot come out of nothing. Thus we are in the position
of recondling the scriptures with modern lig^t. That
energy which manifests itself slowly through various stages
until it becomes the perfect man, cannot come out of
nothing. It existed somewhere ; and if the mollusc or the
protoplasm is the first point to which you can trace it,
that protoplasm, somehow or other, must have contained
the energy.

There is a great discussion going on as to whether
the aggregate of materials we call the body is the cause
oi manifestation of the force we call the soul, thought,
etc., or whether it is the thought that manifests this body.
The religions of the world of course hold that the fmce
called thought manifests the body, and not the reverse.
There are schotds of modem thought which hold that what
we call thought is simply the outcome the adjustment
of the parts of the ma^ne which we call body. Taking
the second position that the soul or the mass of thought, j
or however you may call it, is the outcmne of this machine,
the outcome of the chemical and physical combinations of
matter making up the body and brain, leaves the question
n-6

70

SWAMI VIVEKAMANDA’S WORKS

unancwered. What makes the body ? Whjit foite etwi-
bines the molecules into the. body ioxm ? What force is
there which takes up material from the mass matter
around and forms my body one way, an(^ier body anoduer
way, and so on ? What makes these infinite distinctums }
To say that the force called soul is the outcome of die
combinations of the molecules of the body is puttti^ the
cart before the horse. How did the combinations cowt ;
where was the force to make them ? If you say that umt
other force was the cause of these combinaticms, and soul
was the outcome of that matter, and that soul — ^which
combined a certain mass of matter — ^was itself the result
of the combinations, it is no answer. That theory ou^t
to be taken which explains most of the facts, if not all,
and that without contradiaing other existing theories. It
is more logical to say that the force which takes the
matter and forms the body is the same which manifests
through that body. To say, therefore, that the thought
forces manifested by the body are the outcome of the
arrangement of molecules and have no independent
existence has no meaning ; neither can force evolve out
of matter. Rather it is possible to demonstrate that what
we call matter does not exist at all. It is only a certain
state of force. Solidity, hardness, or any other state of
matter can be proved to be the result of motion. Increase
of vortex motion imparted to fluids gives them the force
of solids. A mass of air in vortex motion, as in a tornado,
becomes solid-like and by its impact breaks or cuts through
solids. A thread of a q>ider’s web, if it could be moved
at almost infinite velocity, would be as strong as an iron
chain and would cut through an oak tree. Lo^ng at it
in this way, it would be easier to prove that what we call
.matter does not exist. But the other way cannot be
proved.

What is the force which mamfests itsrif through the
body ? It is obvious to all of tts^ whatever that force be.

I Ha RIM. MATUilt OF WW: 77

that it if takiQg partides up, as it were, and manipfilating
iomni out of tihan-«-the human body. None else comes
here to manipulate bodies frar you and me. 1 never saw
anybody eat food for me. 1 have to assimilate it, manu>
factuie tdood and bones and everything out of that food,
'What is this mysterious force ? Ideas about the future and
about the past seem to be terrifying to many. To many
they seem to be mere speculation.

We will take the {nesent theme. What is this ftnrce
which is now working through us ? We know how in old
times, in all the ancient scriptures, this power, this mani>
festation of power, was thouglu to be a bright substance
having the form of this body, and which remained even
after this body fell. Later on, however, we find a higher
idea coming— that this bright body did not represent the
force. Whatsoever has form must be the result of com-
binations of particles and requires something else behind
it to move it. If this body requires something which is
not the body to manipulate it, the bright body, by the
same necessity, will also require something other than
itself to manipulate it. So, that stunething was called the
soul, the Atman in Sanskrit. It was the Atman whidi
through the bright body, as it were, worked on the gross
body outside. The bright body is considered as the
receptacle of the mind, and the Atman is beyond that.
It is not the mind even ; it works the mind, and through
the mind the body. You have an Atman, I have another,
each one of us has a separate Atmail and a separate fine
body, and through that we work on the gross external
body, (^lestions were then asked about this Atman,
about its nature. What is this Atman, this soul of man,
whidb is neither the body nor the mind ? Great discus-
sions fcdlowed. ^>eculatiom were made, various shades
of {ddlosofdiic inquiry came into existence ; and I shall
try to place before you some the c(»dusi<ms that have
been readied abont this Atman.

78

SWAMI VIVEKANAmiA’S WOXS

The different phUo3q>hie8 seem to 8gree that this
Atman, whatever it be, has neither form nor dupe, and
that which has neither form nmr shape must be
present. Time begins with mind, q)ace also is in the
mind. Causation cannot stand without time. Without the
idea of succession there cannot be any idea of causation.
Time, space and causation, therdore, are in the mind,
and as this Atman is beyond the mind and formless, it
must be beyond time, beyond space, and beyond causa<
tion. Now, if it is beyond time, space, and causation, it
must be infinite. Then comes the highest speculation in
our philosophy. The infinite cannot 'be two. If the soul
be infinite, there can be only one Soul, and all ideas of
various souls — ^you having one soul, and I having another,
and so forth — are not real. The Real Man, thoefoie, is
one and infinite, the omnipresent Spirit. And the
apparent man is only a limitation of that Real Man. In
that sense the mythologies are true that the apparent
man, however great he may be, is only a dim reflection
of the Real Man who is beyond. The Real Man, the
Spirit, being beyond cause and effect, not bound by time
and space, must, therefore, be free. He was never bound,
and could not be bound. The apparent nun, the reflec-
tion, is limited by time, space, and causation, and is,
therefore, bound. Or in the language of some of our
philosophers, he appears to be bound, but really is not.
This is the reality in our souls, this omnipresence, this
spiritual ndture, this infinity. Every soul is infinite, diere-
fore there is no question of birth and death. Some
children were being examined. The examiner put them
rather hard questions, and among them was diis one:
“Why does not the earth fall?" He wanted to evoke
answers about gravitation. Most of the children could not
answer at all ; a few answered that it was gravitation or
something. One bright little girl answered it by patting
another question: "Where should it fall?" The questkm

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN

79

is nonsense. Where should the earth fall ? There is no
falling or rising for the earth. In infinite space there is no
up or down ; that is only in the rdative. Where is the
Agoing or coming for the infinite ? Whence should it come
and whither should it go ?

Thus, when people cease to think of the past or
future, when they give up the idea of body, because the
body comes and goes and is limited, then they have risen
to a higher ideal. The body is not the Real Man, neither
is the mind, for the mind waxes and wanes. It is the
Spirit beyond, which alone can live for ever. The body
and mind are continually changing; and are, in fact, only
names of series of changeful phenomena, like rivers whose
waters are in a constant state of flux, yet presenting the
appearance of unbroken streams. Every particle in this
body is continually changing ; no one has the same body
for many minutes tc^ther, and yet we think* of it as the
same body. So with the mind ; one moment it is happy,
another moment unhappy ; one moment strong, another
weak ; an ever-changing whirlpool. That cannot be the
Spirit which is infinite. Change can only be in the limited.
To say that the infinite changes in any way is absurd ; it
cannot be. You can move and 1 can move, as limited
bodies ; every particle in this universe is in a constant
state of flux, but taking the universe as a unit, as one
whole, it cannot move, it cannot change. Motion is always
a relative thing. I move in relatioi^ to something else.
Any particle in this universe can change in relation to any
other partide ; but take the whole universe as one, and
in relation to what can it move ? There is nothing besides
it. So this infinite Unit is unchangeable, immovable,
absolute, and this is the Real Man. Our reality, therefore,
consists in the Universal and not in the limited. These
are old delusions, however comfortable they are, to think
that we are little limited beings, constantly changing.
People are fr^tened when they are told that they are

80

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S W<»KS

Universal Being, everywhere present. Through everytlui^
you woth« through every foot you move, through every Up
you talk, through every heart you feel.

People ate frightened when they are told this. Tliey
will again and again ask you if they are not going to keep
their individuality. What is individuality ? I should like
to see it. A baby has no moustache ; when he grows to
be a man, perhaps he has a moustache and beard. His
individuality would be lost, if it were in the body. If I
lose one eye, or if I lose one of my hands, my individ-
uality would be lost if it were in the body. Then, a
drunkard should not give up drinking because he would
lose his individuality. A thief diould not be a good man
because he would thereby lose his individuality. No man
ought to change his habits for fear of this. There is no
individuality excq>t in the Infinite. That is the only
condition which does not change. Everything else is in
a constant state of flux. Neither can individuality be in
memory. Suppose, on account of a blow on the head
I forget all about my past ; then, I have lost all individ-
uality ; I am gone. I do not remember two or three years
of my childhood, and if memory and existence are one,
then whatever 1 forget is gone. That part of my life
which I do not remember, 1 did not live. That is a very
narrow idea of individuality.

We are not individuals yet. We are strugg^ng
towards individuality, and that is the Infinite, that is the
real nature of man. He alone lives whose life is in die
whole universe, and the more we concentrate our lives on
limited things, the faster we go towards death. Those
moments alone we live when our lives ate in the universe,
in others ; and living this litde life is death, nmply death,
and that is why die of death comes. The fear of
death can only be conquered when man realises that so
long as there" is oat life in this universe, he is living. When
he can say, "I am in everythiiq;^ in everybody, I am in

THE JISAL NATURE OF «i

att lhrca» I am the ludvetae,'’ then alone comes the state
of feariessness. Ta talk of immortality in constantly
changing things is alMuxd. Says an dd Sanskrit philos*
<^er: It is <mly the ^iiit that is the individual, because
it is infinite. No infinity can be divided ; infoiity cannot
be broken into pieces. It is the same one, undivided unit
fix’ ever, and this is the hidividual man, the Real Man.
The apparent man is merely a strug^e to express, to
manifest this individuality which is beyond ; and evolution
is not in the Spirit. These changes which are going on —
the wicked becoming good, the animal becoming man,
take them in whatever way you like— are not in the Spirit.
They are evolution of nature and manifestation of ^irit.
Suppose there is a screen hiding you from me, in whidh
there is a small hole through which I can see some of the
faces before me, just a few faces. Now suppose the hole
begins to grow larger and larger, and as it does so, more
and more of the scene before me reveals itself and when
at last the whole screen has disappeared, I stand face to
face with you all. You did not change at all in this case ;
it was the h<de that was evolving, amd you were gradually
manifesting yourselves. So it is with the Spirit. No per
fection is going to be attained. You are already free
and perfect. What are these ideas of religion and God
and searching for the hereafter } Why does man look for
a God ? Why does man, in every' nation, in every state
of society, want a perfect ideal somewhere, either in man,
in God, or elsewhere ? Because that idea is within you.
It was your own heart beating and you did not know ; you
were mistaking it fix something extern^. It is the God
trathin your own self that is propdling you to sedt for
Him, to realise Him. After long searches hwe and there,
in temples and in churches, in earths and in heavens, at
last you come back, complying the circle from where you
started, to your own soul and find that He fix whom you
have been sedii^ dl' over the worid, fix whom you

82

SWAMl VIVEKANAMDA‘8 WORKS

have been weeping and jnraying in churches and temides,
on whom you were looking as the mystery of all mysteries
shrouded in the cloudy is nearest the near, is your own
Self, the reality oi your life; body, and soul. That is your
own nature. Assert it, manifest it. Not to become pure,
you are pure already. You are not to be perfect, you are
that already. Nature is like that screen which is hiding
the reality beyond. Every good thought that you think or
act upon is simply tearing the veil, as it were ; and the
purity, the Infinity, the God behind, manifests Itself more
and more.

This is the whole history of man. Finer and finer
becomes the veil, more and more of the light behind
shines forth, for it is its nature to shine. It cannot be
known ; in vain we try to know it. Were it knowable, it
would not be what it is, for it is the eternal subject.
Knowledge is a limitation, knowledge is objectifying. He
is the eternal subject of everything; the eternal witness in
this universe, your own Self. Knowledge is, as it were,
a lower step, a degeneration. We are that eternal subject
already ; how can we know it ? It is the real nature of
every man, and he is struggling to express it in various
ways ; otherwise, why are there so many ethical codes ?
Where is the explanation of all ethics ? One idea stands
out as the centre of all ethical systems, expressed in
various forms, namely, doing good to others. The guid-
ing motive of mankind should be charity towards men,
charity towards all animals. But these are all various
expressions of that eternal truth that, ”I am the universe ;
this universe is one.” Or else, where is the reason ? V^y
should I do goodt to my fellowmen ? Why diould 1 do
good to others ? What compels me ? It is sympathy, the
feeling of sameness everywhere. The hardest hearts fed
sympathy for other beings sometimes. Even the man
who gets frightened if he is told that this assumed individ-
uality is really a ddusion, that it is igntdde to tty to ding

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 9»

to this, apparent individuality, that very man will tell you
that extreme self-abnegation is the centre of all mcnrality.
And what is perfect self-abnegation ? It means the
abnegation of this apparent self, the abnegation of all
selfidmeas. This idea of *'me and mine” — ^AhamkAra
and Mamat& — ^is the result of past superstition, and the
more this present self passes away, the more the real
Self becomes manifest. This is true self-abnegation, the
centre, the basis, the gist of all moral teaching; and
whether man knows it or not, the whole world is slowly
going towards it, practising it more or less. Only, the vast
majority of mankind are doing it unconsciously. Let them
do it consciously. Let them make the sacrifice, knowing
that this ”me and mine” is not the real Self, but only
a limitation. But one glimpse of that infinite reality
which is behind — ^but one spark of that infinite fire that is
the All — ^represents the present man ; the Infinite is his
true nature.

What is the utility, the effect, the result, of this knowL
edge ? In these days, we have to measure everything by
utility — ^by how many pounds, shillings, and pence it
represents. What right has a person to ask that truth
should be judged by the standard of utility or money ?
Suppose there is no utility, will it be less true ? Utility is
not the test of truth. Nevertheless, there is the highest
utility in this. Happiness, we see, is what everyone is
seeking for, but the majority seek it in things which are
evanescent and not real. No happinm was ever found
in tlie senses. There never was a person who found
happiness in the senses or in enjoyment of the senses.
Happiness is only found in the Spirit. Thei^ore the
highest utility for mankind is to find this happiness in the
Spirit. The next point is that ignorance is the great
mother of all misery, and the fundamental ignorance is
to think that the Infinite weeps and cries, that He is
finite. This is the basis ot all ignmrance that we, the

V/ablio XihvmMm

84 SWAMl VraOUNANDA’S WOMU

immortal, the ever pare, the perfect ^nrit, tl^:Ut tjiat. tve
are little minds, that we are little bodies ; it is the mothor
of all selfidiness. As soon as I think that I am a Ikde
body, I want to preserve it, to protect it, to keep it.nke^
at the e]q>ense of other bodies ; then you and I become
separate. As soon as this idea separation ccmies, it
opens the door to all mischief and leads to all misery.
This is the utility that if a very small fractional part of
human beii^ livii^ today can put aside the idea of
selfishness, narrowness, and littleness, this earth will be-
come a paradise tomorrow ; but with machines and
improvements of material knowledge only, it will never
be. These only increase misery, as <m 1 poured <m fire
increases the flame all the more. Without the knowledge
of the Spirit, all material knowledge is only adding fud
to fire, only giving into the hands selfish man one more
instrument to take what belongs to others, to live upon
the life of others, instead of giving up his life for them.

Is it practical ? — ^is another question. Can it be prac-
tised in modem society ? Truth does not pay homage to
any society, ancient or modem. Society has to pay
homage to Truth or die. Societies should be moulded
upon truth, and truth has not to adjust itself to society,
li such a noble truth as unsdfishness cannot be practised
in society, it is better for man to give up society and go
into the forest. That is the daring man. There are two
sorts of cqurage. One is the courage of facing the cannon.
And the other is the courage of spiritual conviction. An
Emperor who invaded India was tdd by his teacher to
go and see some trf the sages there. After a long seardi
for one, he found a very old man sitting on a block of
stone. The Emperor talked with him a little and became
very much impressed by his wisdtmi. He asked the sage
to go to his country with him. “No,” said the sage, ”1
am quite satisfied with my forest here.” Said the Empanr,
'T will give you money, position, wealth. I am die

tm ItEAl MAimUE OP MAM

Eo^Naor of the woxld/’ "No/' leplicd the matf, "X
don’t oun fcHr those things.” The Emperor relied, "If
ymi do not go, I will hill you." The man smiled serenely
and said, "That is the most foolish thing you ever said,
Emperm-. You cannot kill me. Me the sun cannot dry,
fire cannot bum, sword cannot kill, for I am die birthless,
the deathless, the ever-living omnipotent, omnipresent
Spirit.” This is spiritual boldness, while the other is the
courage of a lion or a tiger. In die Mutiny of 1857 there
was a Swami, a very great soul, whom a Mohammedan
mutineer stabbed severely. The Hindu mutineers caught
and brought the man to the Swami, ofiEering to kill him.
But the Swami looked up calmly and said, "My brother,
thou art He. thou art Hel ” and expired. This is another
instance. What good is it to talk of the strength of your
muscles, of the superiority of your Western institutions, if
you cannot make Trath square with your society, if you
cannot build up a society into which the highest Trath
will fit ? What is the good of this boastful talk about your
grandeur and greatness, if you stand up and say, "This
courage is not practical.” Is nothing practical but pounds-,
shillings, and pence ? If so, why boast of your society 7
That society is the greatest, where the highest truths
become practical. That is my tqiinion ; and if society is
not fit for the highest truths, make it so ; and the sooner,
the better. Stand up, men and women, in this spirit, dare
to believe in the Truth, dare to practise the Truth I The
world requires a few hundred bold men and women.
Practise that boldness which dares know the Truth, which
dares show the Truth in life, which does not quake before
death, nay, wdcomes death, makes a man know that he
is the Spirit, that, in the whole universe, nothii^ can
him. Thai you will be free. Then you will know your
teal Soul. "This Atman is first to be heard, then dioug^t
about and then meditated upon.”

There is a great tendency in modem times to talk too

86

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

much of work and decry thought. Doing is very good«
but that comes from thinking. Little manifestations of
eneigy through the nmsdes are called work. But where
there is no thought, there will be no work. Fill the brain,
therefore, with hig^ thoughts, highest ideals, place them
day and night before you, and out of that will come great
work. Talk not about impurity, but say that we are pure.
We have hypnotised ourselves into this thought that we
are little, that we are bom, and that we are going to die,
and into a constant state of fear.

There is a story about a lioness, who was big with
young, going about in search of prey ; and seeing a flock
of sheep, she jumped upon them. She died in the effort ;
and a little baby lion was bom, motherless. It was taken
care of by the sheep and the sheep brought it up, and it
grew up with them, ate grass, and bleated like the sheep.
And although in time it became a big, full-grown lion, it
thought it was a sheep. One day another lion came in
search of prey and was astonished to find that in the
midst of this flock of sheep was a lion, fleeing like the
sheep at the approach of danger. He tried to get near
the sheep-lion, to tell it that it was not a sheep but a
lion ; but the poor animal fled at his approach. However,
he watched his opportunity and one day found the sheep-
lion sleeping. He approached it and said, "You are a
lion." "I am a sheep," cried the other lion and could
not believe the contrary but bleated. The lion dragged
him towaids a lake and said, "Look here, here is my
reflection and yours." Then came the comparison. It
looked at the lion and then at its own reflection, and in a
moment came the idea that it was a lion. The lion
roared, the bleating was gone. You are lions, you are
souls, pure, infinite, and perfect. The mig^t of the
universe is within you. "Why weepest thou, my friend ?
There is neither birth nor death for thee. Why weepest
thou > There is no disease nor misery for thee, but thou

THE REAL NATURE OF MAN 91

art like the infinite sky ; douds various cdouia come
over it, play for a mcHnent, then vanish. But the sky is
ever the same eternal blue.” Why do we see wicked-
ness ? There was a stump of a tree, and in the dark, a
thief came that way and said, ‘That is a policeman.” A
young man waiting for his bdoved saw it and thought
that it was his sweetheart. A child who had been told
ghost stories took it for a ghost and began to shriek. But
all the time it was the stump of a tree. We see the world
as we are. Suppose there is a baby in a room with a
bag of gold on the table and a thief comes and steals the
gold. Would the baby know it was stolen ? That which
we have inside, we see outside. The baby has no thief
inside and sees no thief outside. So with all knowledge.
Do not talk of the wickedness of the world and all its sins.
Weep that you are bound to see wickedness yet. Weep
that you are bound to see sin everywhere, and if you
want to help the world, do not condemn it. Do not
weaken it more. For what is sin and what is misery, and
what are all these, but the results of weakness ? The
world is made weaker and weaker every day by such
teachings. Men are taught from childhood that they are
weak and sinners. Teach them that they are all glorious
children of immortality, even those who are the weakest
in manifestation. Let positive, strong, helpful thought
enter into their brains tom very childhood. Lay your-
selves open to these thoughts, and not to weakening and
paralysing ones. Say to your own ihinds, “I am He,
I am He.” Let it ring day and night in your minds like
a song, and at the point of death declare, “X am He.”
That is the Truth ; the infinite strength of the world is
yours. Drive out* the superstition that has covered your
minds. Let us be brave. Know die Truth and praaise
the Truth. The goal may be distant, but awake, arise,
and stop not till the goal is readied.

MAYA AND ILLUSION

{Delivered in London)

Almost all of you have heard of the word MiyA,
Generally it is used, though incorrectly, to denote illusion,
or delusion, or 'some such thing. But the theory of Maya
forms one of the pillai^s upon which the Vedanta rests ; it
is, therefore, necessary that it should be properly under-
stood. I ask a little patience of you, for there is a great
danger of its being misunderstood. The oldest idea of
Maya that we find in Vedic literature is the sense of
delusion ; but then the real theory had not been reached.
We find such passages as, '*Indra through his Maya
assumed various forms.*’ Here it is true the word Maya
means something like magic, and we find various other
passages, always taking the same meaning. The word
Maya then dropped out of sight altogether. But in the
meantime the idea was developing. Later, the question
was raised: *‘Why can't we know this secret of the
universe ?” And the answer given was very significant:
"’Because we talk in vain, and because we are satisfied
with the things of the senses, and because we are running
after desires ; therefore, we, as it were, cover the Reality
with a mist.” Here the word Maya is not used at all, but
we get the idea that the cause of our ignorance is a kind
of mist that has come between us and the Truth. Much
later on^ in one of the latest Upanishads, we find the word
Maya reappearing, but this time, a transformation has
taken place in it, and a mass of new hieaning has attached
itself to the word. Theories had been propounded and
repeated, others had been taken up, until at last the idea
of Maya became fixed. We read in the Shvetishvatara
Upanishad, ’"Know nature to be Maya and the Ruler of

HAYA AN0 ILLUSION

this Maya is the Lord Himsdlf/' Coming to our phfloi-
ophers^ we find that this word Maya has been manipu*
lated in various fashions^ until we come to the great
ShankarSchirya. The theory of Maya was manipulated a
little by the Buddhists too^ but in the hands of the
Buddhists it became very much like what is called IdeaL
ism, and that is the meaning that is now generally given
to the word Maya. When the Hindu says the world is
at once people get the idea that the world is an
illusion. This interpretation has some basis, as coming
through the Buddhistic philosophers, because there was
one section of philosophers who did not believe in the
external world at all. But the Maya of the Vedanta, in
its last developed form, is neither Idealism nor Realism,
nor is it a theory. It is a simple statement of facts — ^what
we are and what we see around us.

As 1 have told you before, the minds of the people
from whom the Vedas came were intent upon following
principles, discovering principles. They had no time to
work upon details or to wait for them ; they wanted to
go deep into the heart of things. Something beyond was
calling them, as it were, and they could not wait. Scattered
through the Upanishads, we find that the details of subjects
which we now call modem sciences are often very
erroneous, but, at the same time, their principles are
correct. For instance, the idea of ether, which is one of
the. latest theories of modem science, is to be found in
our ancient literature in forms much mbre developed than
is the modern scientific theory of ether today, but it
was in principle. When they tried to demonstrate the
workings of that principle, they made many mistakes.
The theory of the all-pervading life principle, of which
all liiEe in this universe is but a differing manifestation,
was understood in Vedk tiroes ; it is found in the
Brfihmanas. There is a l<mg hymn in the Samhilds in
praise of Priina of which all life is but a manifestation.

ifwbfio Wbinw»

90

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'8 WOUS

By the by, it may interest some ctf you to know that there
are theories in the Vedic philosophy about die origin of
life on this earth very similar to those which have been
advanced by some modem European scientists. You, of
course, all know that there is a theory that life came from
other planets. It is a setded doctrine with some Vedic
philosophers that life comes in this way from the moon.

Coming to the principles, we find these Vedic thinkers
very courageous and wonderfully bold in propounding
large and generalised theories. Their solution of the
mystery of the universe, from the external world, was sw
satisfactory as it could be. The detailed workings of
modem science do not bring the question one step nearer
to solution, because the principles have failed. If the
theory of ether failed in ancient times to give a solution
of the mystery of the universe, working out the detaib of
that ether theory would not bring us much nearer to the
tmth. If the theory of all-pervading life &iled as a theory
of this universe, it would not mean anything more if
worked out in detail, for the details do not diange the
principle of the universe. What I mean is that in their
inquiry into the principle, the Hindu thinken were as
bold, and in some cases, much bolder than the modems.
They made some of the grandest generalisations that have
yet been reached, and some still remain as theories, whidi
modem science has yet to get even as theories. For
instance, they not only arrived at the ether theory, but
went beyond and classified mind also as a still more
rarefied ether. Beyond that again, they found a stOl
more rarefied ether. Yet that was no solution, it did not
solve the problem. No amount of knowledge of the
external world could solve the jMroblem. "But”, says
the scientist, “we are just beginning to know a little:
wait a few thousand years and we shall get the solution.”
“No,” says the Vedantist, for he has proved beymui all
doubt that the mind it limited, that it cannot go beyond

MAYA AMD HXU8H»} M

certain liodia— 4>cyoiid time, qmoe, and cauiation. Aa
no nmn can jump out itf his own sdf, so no man can go
beymkl the limits that have been put upon him by Uie
laws oC time and q»ace. Every attempt to solve the laws
of causatkm, time, and qpace would be (utile, because the
very attempt would have to be made by t^ng for granted
the mdstenoe of these three. What does the statement
oi the existence of the world mean, then ? "This world
has no existence.” V^tat is meant by that ? It nwans that
it has no abstdute existence. It exists only in relation to
my mind, to your mind, and to the mind of everyone else.
We see this worid with the five senses but if we had another
tense, we would tee in it something more. If we had yet
another sense, it would appear as something still
different. It has, therefore, no real existence ; it has no
unchangeable, immovable, infinite existence. Not can it
be called ium*existence, seeing that it exists, and we have
to work in and through it. It is a mixture of existence and
non-existence.

Coming from abstractions to the common, everyday
details of our lives, we find that our whole life is a
contradiaion, a mixture of existence and non-existence.
There is this oontradictitm in- knowledge. It teems that
man can know everything, if he only wants to know ; but
before he has gone a few steps, he finds an adamantine
wall tdiich he cannot past. All his work is in a circle,
and he cannot go beytmd that cirde. The problems
which are nearest suid dearest to him are impelling him
on and calling, day and nig^t, for a solution, but he
cannot-'solve them, because he cannot go beyond his
intellect. And yet that desire is in^lanted stnmgly in
him. StiU we know that the only good is to be obtained
by oontepUii^ amd diedung it. With every breath, every
in^Milte of our heart adts us to be selfish. At the same
time, there is some power beyond us which says that it
is unsdfishness alone whidi is good. Every child is a
n— 7

Ok%on»»«*

k'ubSio UlWMs

n

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

bom optiniist; he dreams golden dteasot. In youth he
becomes still mote (^timisttc It is hard to a young man
to believe that there is such a thing as death, such a thinif
as defeat or degradation. Old age comes, and life
is a mass of ruins. Dreams have vanished into die air,
and the man becomes a pessimist. Thus we go from
one extreme to another, buffeted by nature, without
knowing where we are going. It reminds me of a cele-
brated song in the Lalita Vistara, the biography of
Buddha. Buddha was born, says the book, as the saviour
of mankind, but he forgot himself in the luxuries of his
palace. Some angels came and sang a song to rouse
him. And the burden of the whole song is that we are
floating down the river of life which is continually
changing with no stop and no rest. So are our lives,
going on and on without knowing any rest. What ate
we to do ? The man who has enough to eat and drink
is an optimist, and he avoids all mention of misery, for it
frightens him. Tell not to him of the sorrows and the
sufferings of the world ; go to him and tell that it is all
good. ‘*Yes, 1 am safe,” says he. "Look at mel I have
a nice house to live in. I do not fear cold and hunger :
therefore do not bring these hmrrible pictures before me.”
But, on the other hand, there are others dying tff cold and
hunger. If you go and teach-them that it is all good, they
will not hear you. How can they wish others to be happy
when they are miserable ? Thus we are oscillating between
optimism and pessimism.

Then, there is the tremendous fact of death. The
whole world is going towards death ; everything dies.
All our progress, our vanities, our reforms, our luxuries,
our wealth, our knowledge, have that one end — death.
That is all that is certain. Cities come and go, empires
rise and fall, planets break into pieces and crumble into
dust, to be blown about by the atmospheres of other
planets. Thus it has been gttog tut from time without

MAYA AND ILLUSION

as

beginning. Death is the end of everything. Death is
the end of life, of beauty, of wealth, of power, of virtue
too. Saints die and sinners die, kings die and beggars
die. They are all going to death, and yet this tremen-
dous clinging on to life exists. Somehow, we do not know
why, we cling to life ; we cannot give it up. And this
if Maya.

The mother is nursing a child with great care ; all her
soul, her life, is in that child. The child grows, becomes
a man, and perchance becomes a blackguard and a brute,
kicks her and beats her every day ; and yet the mother
clings to the child ; and when her reason awakes, she covers
it up with the idea of love. She little thinks* that it is
not love, that it is something which has got hold of her
nerves, which she cannot shake off ; howeyer she may
try, she cannot shake off the bondage she is in. And this
is Maya.

We are all after the Golden Fleece. Every one of us
thinks that this will be his. Every reasonable man sees
that his chance is, perhaps, one in twenty millions, yet
everyone struggles for it. And this is Maya.

Death is stalking day and night over this earth of ours,
but at the same time we think we shall live eternally. A
question was once asked of King Yudhishthira, ''What is
the most wonderful thing on this earth ?*' And the king
replied, “Every day people arc dying around us, and yet
men think they will never die.’* And this is Maya.

These tremendous contradictions in our intellect, in
our knowledge, yea, in all the facts of our life face us on
all sides. A reformer arises and wants to remedy the evils
that- are existing in a certain nation ; and before they
have been remedied, a thousand other evils arise in
another place. It is like an old house that is falling ;
you patch it up in one place and the ruin extends to
another. In India, our rdPormers cry and preach against
the evils of enforced widowhood. In the West, non*

XJ%%r>Ty»^

94

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA‘S W0RK5

marriage is the great evil. Help the unmarried on one
side : they are suffering. Help the widows <m the othtf ;
they are suffering. It is like dxronic rheumatism: you
drive it from the head, and it goes to the body ; you drive
it from there, and it goes to the feet. Reformers arise and
preach that learning, wealth, and culture should not be in
the hands a select few ; and they do their best to make
them accessible to all. These may bring more happiness
to some, but, perhaps, as culture comes, physical happi-
ness lessens. The knowledge of happiness brings die
knowledge of unhappiness. Which way then shall we go ?
The least amount* of material prosperity that we enjoy
is causing the same amount of misery elsewhere. This
is the law. The young, perhaps, do not see it dearly,
but those who have lived long enough and those who
have struggled enough will understand it. And this is
Maya. These things are going on, day and ni^t, and to
find a solution of this problem is impossible. Why should
it be so ? It is impossible to answer this, because the
question cannot be logically formulated. There is neither
how nor why in fact ; we only know that it is and that we
cannot help it. Even to grasp it, to draw an exact image
of it in our own mind, is beyond our power. How can we
solve it then ?

Maya is a statement of the fact ci this universe, of
how it is going on. People generally get frightened when
these things are told to them. But b<dd we must be.
Hiding facts is not the way to find a remedy. As you all
know, a hare hunted by dogs puts its head down and
thinks itself safe ; so, when we run into optimism, we do
just like the hare, but that is no remedy. There are
objections against this, but you may remark that they are
generally from people who possess many of the good
things of life. In this country (England) it is vary difficult
to become a pessimist. Everyone tells me how wonderfully
the world is going on, how progressive ; but what

MAVA Am ILUmON

0

he hioudf ia, is his own worM. Old questions arise:
CSiristianhy inUst be the only true religion of the worid,
because Christian nations are ' prosperous! But that
asserti<m contradicts itself, because the pto^taity of the
Christian nation depends on the ndriortune of non*
Christian nations. There must be sMne to ]^pey on.
Suppose the whole world were to become Quristian, then
the Christian nations would become pom*, because there
would be no non-Christian nations for them to prey upon.
Thus the argument kills itsdf. Animals are livii^ upon
plants, men upon animals auid, worst of all, upon one
another, the strong upon the weak. This is going on
everywhere. And this is Maya. What sdution do you
find for this ? We hear every day many explanations, and
are told that in the long run all will be good. Taking
it for granted that this is possible, why diould there be
this diabolical way of doing good ? Why cannot good be
done through good, instead of through these diabolical
methods ? The descendants the human beings of today
will be happy; but why must there be all this suffering
now ? There is no solution. This is Maya.

Again, we often hear that it is one of the features of
evolution that it eliminates evil, and this evil being
continually eliminated from the world, at last only good
will remain. That is very nice to hear, and it panders to
the vanity of those who have enough of this world’s
goods, who have not a hard struggle to face every day
and are not being crushed under the wheel of this
socalled evolution. It is very good and comforting indeed
to such fortunate ones. 'The common herd may suffer,
but do not' care ; let them die, they are of no con-
sequence. Very good, yet this argument is fallacious
frim beginning to md. It tidies for granted, in the first
{dace,, that ipianifested good and evil in this world are
two abstdnte realities, in the second place, it makes a
Stitt worse asnmqrtion that the amount of good is an in*

96

SWAMl VIVEEANAMDA’S WORKS

creasing quantity and the amount evil is a deaeasing
quantity. So, i£ -evU is being eliminated in this way by
what they call evolution, there will come a time whoa all
tliis evil will be eliminated and what remains will be all
good. Very easy to say, but can it be proved dut evil is a
lessening quantity? Take, for instance, the man who lives
in a forest, who does not know how to cultivate the mind,
cannot read a book, has not heard such a thing as writ-
ing. If he is severely wounded, he is soon all right again ;
while we die if we get a scratdi. Machines are making
things cheap, making for progress and evolution, but
millions are crushed, that one may become rich ; while
one becomes rich, thousands at the same time become
poorer and poorer, and whole masses of human beings
are made slaves. That way it is going on. The animal
man lives in the senses. If he does not get enough to
eat, he is miserable ; or if something happens to his body,
he is miserable. In the senses both his misery and his
happiness begin and end. As soon as this man prog-
resses, as soon as his horizon of happiness increases, his
horizon of unhappiness increases proportionately. The
man in the forest does not know what it is to be jealous,
to be in the law courts, to pay taxes, to be blamed by
society, to be ruled over day and night by the most
tremendous tyranny that human diabolism ever invented,
which pries into the secrets of every human heart. He
docs not know how man becmnes a thousand times more
diabolical than any other animal, with all his vain knowl-
edge and with all his pride. Thus it is that, as we
emeige out of the senses, we develop higher powers of
enjoyment, and at the same time we have to tfovelop higher
powers of suffering too. The nerves become finer
and capable of more stirring. In every society, we (fften
find that the ignorant^ commcm man, when ;ibttsed, does
not feel much, but he feels a good thrashing. But the
gentleman cannot bear a sing^ word of abuse ; he has

MAYA AND ILLUSION

a?

become so findy nerved. Misery bas increased with his
susceptibility to happiness. This does not go much to prove
the evtdutionist’s case. As we increase our power to be
hi^y, we also increase our power to suffer, and some*
times I am indined to think that if we increase our power
to become happy in arithmetical progression, we shall in-
crease, on the odier hand, our power to become miserable
in geometrical progression. We who are progressing know
that the more we progress^ the mmre avenues are opened
to pain as well as to pleasure. And this is Maya.

Thus we find ^t Maya is not a theory for the-
explanation of the worid ; it is simply a statement of facts
as they exist, that the very basis of our being is contradic-
tion, that everywhere we have to move through this tre-
mendous omtradiction, that wherever there is good, there
must also be evil, and wherever there is evil, there must
be some good, wherever there is life, death must follow as
its shadow, and everyone who smiles will have to weep,
and vice versa. Nor can this state of things be remedied.
We may verily imagine that there will be a place where
there will be <mly good and no evil, where we shall only
smile and never weep. This is impossible in the very
nature of things ; for the conditions will remain the same.
Wherever there is the power of producing a smile in us,
there lurks the power <d producing tears. Wherever there
is the power of producing happiness, there lurks somewhere
the power making us miserable.

Thus the Vedanta philosophy is neither optimistic nor
pessimistic It voices both these views and takes things
as they are. It admia that this world is a mixture of good
and evil, happiness and misery, and that to increase
the one, one must of necessity increase the other. There
will never be a perfectly good or bad world, because
the very idea is a contradiction in terms. The
great secret revealed by this analysis is that good and
bad are not two cu^and’dried, separate existences. There

96

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'6 WORKS

is not one thing in this worid ours whidi you can Ubd
as good and good alone, and there is. not one thiiq; in
the universe which you can label as bad and bSd. done.
The very same phenomenon whk^ is ippearing to be
good now, may appear to be bad tonumow. The same
thing which is producing misery in ime, may produce
happiness in anoAer. The fire that bums the child, may
cook a good meal for a starving man. The same nerves
that carry the sensations of misery carry also the sensa-
tions of happiness. The only way to stop evjl, therefore,
*is to stop good also; there is no other way. To stt^
death, we shall have to stop life also. Life without death
and happiness without misery are omtradictions, and
neither can be found alone, because each ci them is but
a different manifestetion of the same thing. What I
thought to be good yesterday, I do not think to be good
now. When I look back upon my life and see what were
my ideals at different times, 1 find this to be so. At one
time my ideal was to drive a strong pair of horses ; at
another time I thought, if I could make a certain kind of
sweetmeat, I should be perfectly happy ; later I inu^ned
that I should be entirely satisfied if I had a wife and
children and plenty of money. Today I laugh at all these
ideals as mere childish nonsense.

The Vedanta says, there must come a time when we
shall look bach and lau^ at the ideds which n»ke us
afraid of giving up our individuality. Each one of us
wants to ke^ this body for an indefinite time, thinkin g we
shall be very happy, but there will come a time tdien we
shall laugh at this idea. Now, if such be the truth, we are
in a state of hopeless contradiction — neither existence nor
non-existence, neither misery nmr happiness^ but a mixture
of them. What, then, is the use of Vedanta and all other
philosc^hies and religions ? And, alwve all, uhat is the
use of doing good worit ? This is a question that onnm
to the mind. If it is true that you cannot do good without

MAYA AND OLUSION

n

4oing evil, snd whenever you try to create hsqppineM thore
will alwaya be misery, peo|de will aak you, **lVbat
is the use of doing ^oodV’ The answer is in die 6rst
fdaoe, that we must woth for lessening misery, for that is
the only way to make ourselves happy. Every one of us
finds it out sornier or later in our lives. The bi%ht ones
find 'it out a litde earlier, and the dull ones a little later.
The dull ones pay'very deariy for the discovery and the
brijg^t ones less dearly. In the second place, we must
do our part, because that is the only way getting out
this life of contradiction. Both the forces of good and
evil will keep the universe alive for us, until we awake
from our dreams and give up this building of mud pies.
That lesson we shall have to learn, and it will take a long,
long time to learn it.

Attempts have been made in Germany to build a
system of philosophy on the basis that the Infinite has
become the finite. Such attempts are also made in
England. And the analysis of the position of these
philosc^hers is this, that the Infinite is trying to express
itsdf in this universe, and that there will come a time
when the Infinite will succeed in doing so. It is all' very
well, and we have used the words Infinite and manifes-
tation and expression, and so on, but philosophen
naturally ask for a logical fundamental basis for the state*
ment that the finite can fully express the Infinite. The
Absolute and the Infinite can become this universe only
by limitation. Everything must be Ifmited that comes
t^Ugli the senses, or througli the mind, or throujli the
intellect ; and for the limited to be the unlimited is amply
absurd, and can never be. The Vedmita, cm the other
hand, says diat it is true that the Abscdute <x the Infinite
is trying to express itsdf in the finite, but there will come
a time when it vdll. find that it is impossiUe, and it will
then have to beat a retreat, and this beatii^ a retreat
mesM renunciation whidi is die real bcginniqg of

100

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WmtKS

religion. Nowadays it is very hard even to talk of mmn*
ciaticHi. It was said of me in America that I was a man
who came out of a land that had been dead and buried
for five thousand years, and ulked of renunciation. So
says, perhaps, the English philosopher. Yet it is true
that that is the only path to religion. Renounce and give
up. What did Christ say ? "He that loseth his life for
my sake shall find it." Again and again did he preach
renunciation as the only way, to perfection. There attties
a time when the mind awakes from this long and dreary
dream — the child gives up its play and wants to go back
to its mother. It finds the truth of the statement, "Desire
is never satisfied by the enjoyment of desires, it only
increases the more, as fire, when butter is poured upon it."

This is true of all sense-enjoyments, of all intellectual
enjoyments, and of all the enjoyments of which the human
mind is capable. They are nothing, they are within
Maya, within this network beyond which we cannot go.
We may run therein through infinite time and find no end,
and whenever we. struggle to get a little enjoyment, a
mass of misery falls upon us. How awful is thisi And
when 1 think of it, I cannot but consider that this theory
of Maya, this statement that it is all Maya, is the best and
only explanation. What an amount of misery there is in
this world ; and if you travel among various nations you
will find that one nation attempts to cure its evils by <me
means, and another by another. The very same evil has
been taken up by various races, and attempts have been
made in various ways to check it, yet no nation has sue
ceeded. If it has been minimised at one point, a mass (rf
evil has been crowded at another point. Thus it goes.
The Hindus, to keep up a h^ standard of chastity in the
race, have sanctioned child-marriage, which in the loi^
run has degraded the race. At the same time, I cannot
deny that this child-marriage makes the race more chaste.
What would you have? If you want the nation to be more

MAYA AND ILLUSION

101

chaste, you iveakeu men and women physicatty by child*
marriage. On the other hand, are you in England any
better off ? No, because chastity is the life of a nation.
Do you not find in history that the first death-sign of a
nation has been unchastity ? When that has entered, the
end of the race is in sight. Where shall we get a solution
of these miseries then ? If parents select husbands and
wives for their children, then this evil is minimised. The
daughters of India are more practical than sentimental.
But very little of poetry^ remains in their lives. Again, i£
people select their own husbands and wives, that does not
seem to bring much happiness. The Indian woman is
generally very happy ; there are not many cases of
quarrelling between husband and wife. On the other
hand in the United States, where the greatest liberty
obtains, the number of unhappy homes and marriages is
large. Unhappiness is here, there, and everywhere. What
does it show ? That, after all, not much happiness has
been gained by all these ideals. We all struggle for
happiness and as soon as we get a little happiness on one
side, on the other side there comes unhappiness.

Shall we not work to do good then ? Yes, with more
zest than ever, but what this knowledge will do for us is
to break down our fanaticism. The Englishman will no
more be a fanatic and curse the Hindu. He will learn to
respect the cuAoms of different nations. There will be
less of fanaticism and more of real work. Fanatics
cannot work, they waste three-fourthk of their energy.
It is the level-headed, calm, practical man who works.
So, the power to work will increase from this idea.
Knowing that this is the state things, there will be more
patience. The sight of misery or of evil will not be able
to throw us off our balance and make us run after
shadows. Therefore, patience will come to us, knowing
Uiat the world will have to go on in its own way. If, for
instance, all men have become good, the animals will

raUurtBhn* fubUo Utotw*

\m

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

have in the meantime evolved into men, and will have
to pass through the same state, and so ivith the pUnta.
But only one thing is certain ; the mighty river is rudiin^s
towards the ocean, and all the drq;>s that constitute the
stream will in time be drawn into that boundless ocean.
So, in this life, with all itt miseries and sorrows, its joys
and smiles and tears, one thing is certain, that all things
are rushing towards their goal, and it is only a question of
time when you and I, and plants and animals, and every
partides of life that exists must reach the Infinite Ocean
of Perfection, must attain to Freedom, to God.

Let me repeat, once more, that the Vedantic position
is neither pessimism nor optimism. It does not say that
this world is all evil or all good. It says that our evil is of
no less value than our good, and our good of no more
value than our evil. They are bound together. This is
the world, and knowing this, you work with patience.
What for? Why should we work? If this is the state of
things, what shall we do ? Why not become agnostics ?
The modem agnostics also know there is no solution of
this problem, no getting out of this evil of Maya, as we
say in our language ; therefore they tell us to be satisfied
and enjoy life. Here, again, is a mistake, a tremendous
mistake, a most illogical mistake. And it is this. What
do you mean by life ? Do you mean tmly die life of the
senses ? In this, every one of us differs only slightly from
the brutes. I am sure that no bne is present here whose
life is only'in the senses. Then, this present life means
something more than that. Our flings, thoughts, and
aqiirations are all part and pared ot our life ; and is not
the struggle toward the great ideal, towards perfection,
one of the most important components of what we cadi
life ? According to the agnostics, we must enjoy life as
it is. But this life means, above aU, this search after the
ideal ; the essence of life is gdi^ towards perfection. We
must have that, and, therefore, we cannot be agnostics or

. MAYA AN0 ILLUSION

MS

take the w«nld as it appears. The agnostic potition takes
this life, minus the ideal component, to be all that exists.
And this, the agnostic daims, cannot be reached, therefore
he must give up the search. This is what is called Maya —
this nature, this universe.

All religions are more or less attempts to get beyond
nature — the crudest or the most devel(^>ed, expressed
tiirough mythology or symbology, stories of gods, angels
or demons, or through stories of saints or seen, great men
or prophets, or through the abstractions of philosophy — all
have that one object, all are trying to get beyond these
limitations. In one word, they are all struggling towards
freedom. Man feels, consdously or unconsdously, that
he is bound ; he is not what he wants to be. It was
taught to him at the very moment he began to look around.
That very instant he learnt that he was bound, and he
also found that there was something in him which wanted
to fly beyond, where the body coidd not follow, but which
was as yet chained down by this limitation. Even in the
lowest of religious ideas, where departed ancestors and
other spirits— mostly violent and cruel, lurking about the
houses of their friends, fond of bloodshed and strong
drink— are worshipped, even there we find that one
common factor, that of freedom. The man who wants
to worship the gods sees in them, above all things, greater
freedom than in himsdf. If a door is dosed, he thinks
the gods can get through it, and that walls have no limita-
tions for them. This idea of freedonr increases until it
comes to the ideal of a Personal God, of which the central
concept is that He is a Being beyond the limitation of
nature, of Maya. I tee before me, as it were, that in
some of those forest retreats this question it being dis-
cu»ed by those andent sages of India ; and in <me of them,
where even the oldest and the holiest fail to readi the
solution, a young man stands up in the midst of them, and
dedares, "Hear, ye children of immortality, hear, ye who

104

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA^S WORKS

live in the highest places, I have found the way. By know-
ing Him who is beyond darkness we can go beyond death.’*

This Maya is everywhere. It is terrible. Yet we have
to work through it. The man who says that he will work
when the world has become all good and then he will
enjoy bliss is as likely to succeed as the man who sits
beside the Gang^l and says, will ford the river when
all the water has run into the ocean.” The way is not
with Maya, but against it. This is another fact to learn
We are not born as helpers of nature, but competitors
with nature. We are its bond-masters, but we bind
ourselves down. Why is this house here? Nature did not
build it. Nature says, go and live in the forest. Man
says, I will build a house and fight with nature, and he
does so. The whole history of humanity is a continuous
fight against the so-called laws of nature, and man gains
in the end. Coming to the internal world, there too the
same fight is going on, this fight between the animal man
and the spiritual man, between light and darkness ; and
here too man becomes victorious. He, as it were, cuts his
way out of nature to freedom.

We see, then, that beyond this Maya the Vedantic
philosophers find something which is not bound by Maya ;
and if we can get there, we shall not be bound by Maya.
This idea is in some form or other the common property
of all religions. But, with the Vedanta, it is only the
beginning of religion and not the end. The idea of a
Personal God, the Ruler and Creator of this universe, as
He has been styled, the Ruler of Maya, or nature, is not
the end of these Vedantic ideas ; it is only the beginning.
The idea grows and grows until the Vedantist finds that
He who, he thought, was standing outside, is he himself
and is in reality within. He is the one who is free, but
who through limitation thought he was bound.

MAYA AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE
CONCEPTION OF GOD

{Delivered in London, 20th October 189S)

We have seen how the idea of M&yi, which forms, as
it were, one of the basic doctrines of the Advaita
Vedanta, is, in its germs, found even in the SamhitSs, and
that in reality all the ideas which are developed in the
Upanishads are to be found already in the Samhitas in
some form or other. Most of you are by this time famil-
iar with the idea of Maya, and know that it is sometimes
erroneously explained as illusion, so that when the
universe is said to be Maya, that also has to be explained
as being illusion. The translation of the word is neither
happy nor correct. Maya is not a theory ; it is simply a
statement of facts about the universe as it exists, and to
understand Maya we must go back to the Samhitas and
begin with the conception in the germ.

We have seen how the idea of the Devas came. At
the same time we know that these Devas were at first only
powerful beings, nothing more. Most of you are horrified
when reading the old scriptures, whether of the Greeks,
the Hebrews, the Persians, or others, to find that the
ancient gods sometimes did things which, to us, are very
repugnant. But when we read these books, we entirely
forget that we are persons of the nineteenth century, and
these gods were beings existing thousands of years ago.
We also forget that the people whp worshipped these gods
found nothing incongruous in their characters, found
nothing to frighten them, because they were very much
like themselves. I may also remark that that is the one
great lesson we have to learn throughout our lives. In
judging others we always judge them by our own ideals.

riAkrtehua I’ubUo Ubwn

106

SMTAMl VIVEKANANIU’S WORKS

That is not as it shouhl be. Everyone must bo judged
according to his own ideal, and not by that of anytme
else. In our dealiugs with our fdlow-bdngs we om*
stantly labour under this mistake, and 1 am of opinion
that the vast majority of our quarrels with one another
arise sinq>ly firom this one cause that we ate always
trying to judge others’ gods by our own, others’ ideals by
out ideals, and others’ motives by our motives. Under
certain drcunutances T might do a certain thing, and
when I see another person taking the same course I think
he has also the same motive actuating him, little dreamily
that although the effect may be the same, yet many other
causes may produce the same thing. He may have per-
formed the action with quite a di&rent motive from that
which impelled me to do it. So in judging of those
ancient religions we must not take the standpoint to
which we indine, but must put ourselves into the position
of thought and life of those early dmes.

The idea of the cruel and ruthless Jehovah in the Old
Testament has frightened many — but why? What right
have they to assume that the Jehovah ol the andent Jews
must represent the conventional idea of the God of
the present 'day ? And at the same time, we must not
fotget that there will come men after us who will laug^
at our ideas of rdigion and God in the same way that
we laugh at those of the andents. Yet, through dl these
various conceptions runs the gdden thread of unity,
and it is the purpose of the Vedanta to discover this
diread. “I am the thread that runs through all these
various ideas, each one which is like a pearl,” says
the Lord Krishna; and it is the duty of Vedanta to
establish this connecting thread, however incongruous or
disgusting may seem these ideas whmi judged according
to the conceptions of today. These ideas, in the setting
of past times, were harmonious and not more hideous
than our present ideas. It is only when we try to take

MAYA AND THE CONCEPTK»l OP G(» I«f

diem out ei tbdr settit^ and apply to our own present
cbcumscanoei that the hideousneas becomes obvious.
Fm die tdd sunoundii^ are dead and gone. Just as the
ancient Jew has develqied into the keen, modern, sharp
Jew, and the ancient Aryan into the intellectual Hindu,
similarly Jehovah has grown, and Devas have grown.

The great mistake is in recognising the evolution of the
worshippers, while we do not acknowledge the evolution
of the Worshipped. He is not credited with the advance
that his devotees have made. That is -to say, you and I,
as representing ideas, have grown ; these gods also, as
representing ideas, have grosvn. This may seem some-
what curious to you — that Cod can grow. He cannot.
He is unchangeable. In the same sense the real man
never grows. But man’s ideas of God are constantly
changing and expanding. We shall see later on how the
real man behind each one of these human manifestations
is immovable, unchangeable, pure, and always perfect :
and in the same way the idea that we form of God is a
mere manifestation, our own creation. Behind that is
the real God who never changes, the ever pure, the
immutable. But the manifestation is always changing,
revealing the reality behind more and more. When it
reveals more of the faa behind, it is called progression,
when it hides more of the fact behind, it is called retro-
gression. Thus, as we grow, so the gods grow. From
the ordinary point erf view, just as we reveal ourselves
as we evolve, so the gods reveal themselves.

We shall now be in a position to understand the
theory of Maya. In all the rq;ions of the world
the one question they propose to discuss is this: Why
is there ^sharmony in the universe? Why is there this
evil in the universe? We do not find this question in the
very inception of primitive religious ideas, because the
world did not appear incongruous to the primitive man.
Circumstances were not inharmonious for him : there was

U-E

106 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WOMU

no dash of opinions; to him there was no antagonism
of good and evil. There was merely a feding in his own
heart of something which said yea, and something which
said nay. The primitive man was a man of impulse.
He did what occurred to him, and tried to bring out
through his muscles whatever thought came into his mind,
and he never stopped to judge, and seldom tried to died;
his impulses. So with the gods, they were also creatures
of impulse. Indra comes and shatten the forces of the
demons. Jehovah is pleased with one person and dis*
pleased with another, for what reason no one knows or
asks. The habit of inquiry had not then arisen, and
whatever he did was regarded as right. There was no
idea of good or evil. The Devas did many wicked things
in our sense of the word ; again and again Indra and other
gods committed very wicked deeds, but to the worshippers
of Indra the ideas wickedness and evil did not occur,
so they did not question them.

With the advance of ethical ideas came the fig^t.
There arose a certain sense in man, called in different
languages and nations by different names. Call it the
voice of God, or the result of past education, or whatever
dse you like, but the effect was this that it had a check-
ing power upon the natural impulses of man. There is
one impulse in our minds whidi says, do. Behind it rises
another voice which says, do not. There is one set of
ideas in our mind which is always strugg^ng to get out-
side through the channels of the semes, and bdiind that,
although it may be thin and weak, there is an infinitely
small voice which says, do not go outside. The two
beautiful Sanduit words for these phenomena are Pravritti
and Nivritti, "drcling forward” and “circling inward”.
It is the circling forward which usually, governs our acd<ms.
Religion begins with this circling inward. Rel^on b^liis
with this "do not”. Spirituality b^ns with Uiis “do
not”. When the "do not" is not there, rdig^ has

MAYA AND THE GONGEPTION OF GOD 109

not begun. And this not” came, causing men's
ideas to grow, despite the fighting gods whidi they had
wordlipped.

A little love awoke in the hearts of mankind. It was
very small indeed, and even now it is not much greater.
It was at first confined to a tribe embracing perhaps
members of the same tribe ; these gods loved their tribes
and each god was a tribal god, the protector of that tribe.
And sometimes the members of a tribe would think of
themselves as the descendants of their god, just as the
dans in different nations think that they are the common
descendants of the man who was the founder of the clan.
There were in andent times, and are even now, some
people who daim to be descendants not only of these
tribal gods, but also of the Sun and the Moon. You read
in the ancient Sanskrit books of the great heroic emperors
of the solar and the lunar dynasties. They were first wor<
shippers of the Sun and the Moon, and gradually came to
think of themselves as descendants of the god of the Sun,
ot the Moon, and so forth. So when these tribal ideas
b^an to grow there came a little love, some slight idea of
duty towards each other, a little social oiganisation. Then,
naturally, the idea came: How can we live together with-
out bearing and forbearing? How can one man live with
another without having some time or other to check his
impulses, to restrain himself, to forbear from doing things
which his mind would prompt him to It is impossible.
Thus comes the idea of restraint. The whole sodal fabric
is based upon that idea of restraint, and we aU know that
the man or woman who hgs not learnt the great lesson of
bearing and forbearing leads a most miserable life.

Now, when these ideas of religion came, a glimpse of
something higher, more ethical, dawned upon the intellect
of mankind. The old gods were found to be incongruous
— these boisterous, fighting, drinking, beef-eating gods of
the ancients — whose delight was in the smell of burning

110

SWAMI VIVEKANAMDA^ WORKS

flesh and libations of strong liquor. Sometimes Indra
drank so much that he fell upon the ground and talked
unintelligibly. These gods could no longer be tolerated.
The notion had arisen of inquiring into motives, and the
gods had to come in for their share of inquiry. Reastm
for such-and-such actions was demanded and the reason
was wanting. Therefore man gave up these gods, or rather
they developed higher ideas concerning them. They took
a survey, as it were, of all the actions and qualities of
the gods and discarded those which they could not har-
monise, and kept those which they could understand, and
combined them, labelling them with one name, Deva-deva,
the God of gods. The god to be worshipped was no more
a simple symbol of power ; something more was required
than that. He was an ethical god ; he loved mankind, and
did good to mankind. But the idea of god still remained.
They increased his ethical significance, and increased also
his power. He became the most ethical being in the
universe, as well as almost almighty.

But all this patchwork would not do. As the explana-
tion assumed greater proportions, the difliculty which it
sought to solve did the same. If the qualities of the god
increased in arithmetical progression, the difficulty and
doubt increased in geometrical progression. The difficulty
of Jehovah was very little beside the difficulty of the God
of the universe, and this question remains to the present
day. Why under the reign of an almighty and all-loving
God of tne universe should diabolical things be allowed
to remain? Why so much more misery than happiness,
and so much more wickedness ^han good? We may shut
our eyes to all these things, but the fact still remains that
this world is a hideous world. At best, it is the hell
of Tantalus. Here we are with strong impulses and
stronger cravings for sense-enjoyments, but cannot satisfy
them. There rises a wave which impels us forward in
spite of our own will, and as soon as we move one step.

’MAYA AND THE CONCEPTION Of OOD

111

comes a Mow. We are aU doomed to live here like
Tantalus. Ideals> come into our head far beytmd the
limit of our ' sense-ideals, but when we seek to express
them, we cannot do so. On the other hand, we are
crushed by the surging mass around us. Yet if I give up
all ideality and merely struggle through this world, my
existence is. that of a brute, and 1 degenerate and degrade
myself. Neither way is happiness. Unhappiness is the
fate of those who are content to live in Uiis wcnrld, born
as 'they are. A thousand times greater misery is the hite
of those who dare to stand forth for truth and for higher
things and who dare to ask for something higher
than mere brute existence here. These are facts; but
there is no explanation — there cannot be any explanation.
But the Vedanta shows the way out. You must
bear in mind that I have to tell you facts that will frighten
you sometimes, but if you remember what I say, think of
it, and digest it, it will be youn, it will raise you higher,
and make you capable of understanding and living in
truth.

Now, it is a statement of faa that this world is a
Tantalus’s hell, that we do not know anything about this
universe, yet at the same time we cannot say that we do
not know. I cannot say that this chain exists, when I
think that I do not know it. It may be an entire delusion
of my brain. I may be dreaming all the time. I am
dreaming that I am talkii^ to you. and that you are
listening to me. No <me can {ffove that it is not a dream.
My brain itself may be a dream, and as to that no one
has ever seen his awn brain. We all take it for granted.
So it is with everything. My own body 1 take for granted.
At the same time 1 cannot say, I do not know. Thb
standii^ between knowledge and ignorance, this mystic
twilight, die mingling of truth and falsehood — and where
they meet— -no one knows. We are walking in the midst
of a dream, hatf sleepily, half walung, passing all our

112 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA*8 WOMU *

lives in a haae : this is the fate of everyone of us. This
is thie fate of all sense-knowledge. This is the fate of all
philosophy, all boasted science, of all boasted human,
knowledge. This is the universe.

What you call matter, or spirit, or mind, or anydung^
else you may like to call them, the fact remains the same:
we cannot say that they are, we cannot say that they are
not. We cannot say they are one, we cannot say they are
many. This eternal play of light and darkness-indiscrim-
inate, indistinguishable, inseparable — ^is always there. A
fact, yet at the same time not a fact ; awake and at the
same time asleep. This is a statement of facts, and this is
what is called Maya. We are bom in this Maya, we live
in it, we think in it, we dream in it. We are philosophers
in it, we are spiritual men in it, nay, we are devils in this
Maya, and we are gods in this Maya. Stretch your ideas
as far as you can make them higher and higher, call them
infinite or by any other name you please, even these ideas
are within this Maya. It cannot be otherwise, and the
whole of human knowledge is a generalisation of this Maya
trying to know it as it appears to be. This is the work of
Nima-Rupa — ^name and form. Everything that has form,
everything that calls up an idea in your mind, is within
Maya ; for everything that is bound by the laws of time,
space, and causation is within Maya.

Let us go back a little to those early ideas of God
and see what became of them. We perceive at once
that the idea of some Being who is eternally loving us —
eternally unselfish and almighty, ruling this universe —
could not satisfy. “Where is the just, merciful God?“
asked the philosopher. Does He not see millions and
millions of His children perish, in the form of men and
animals; for who can live one moment here without
killing others? Can you draw a breath without destroying
thousands of lives? You live, because, millions die.
Ev^ry mmnent of your life, every breath that you breadie.

MAYA AKQO TiOl CX»ia£PT10N OP GOD lU

IS death to thousands ; every movement that you make is
death to mUltons. Every mmel that you eat is death to
miUlons* Why should they die? There is an old
sophism that they are. very low existences. Supposing
they are — ^which is questionable, for who knows
whether the ant is greater than the man, or the man
than the ant — ^who can prove one way or the other?
Apart from that question, even taking it for granted that
these are very low beings, still why should they die? If
Ihey are low, they have more reason to live. Why not?
Because they live more in the senses, they feel pleasure
and pain a thousandfold more than you or I can do.
Which of us eats a dinner with the same gusto as a dog
or wolf? None, because our eneigies are not in the
senses; they are in the intellect, in the spirit. But in
animals, their whole soul is in the senses, and they
become mad and enjoy things which we human beings
never dream of, and the pain is commensurate with the
pleasure. Pleasure and pain are meted out in equal
measure. If the pleasure felt by animals is so much keener
than that felt by man, it follows that the animals' sense
of pain is as keen, if not keener than man's. So the fact
is, the pain and misery men feel in dying is intensified a
thousandfold in animals, and yet we kill them without
troubling ourselves about their misery. This is Maya.
And if we suppose there is* a Personal* God like a human
being, who made everything, these sc^alled. explanations
and theories which try to prove that out of evil comes good
are not sufficient. Let twenty thousand good things come,
but why should they come from evil? On that principle,
I might cut the throats of others because 1 want the full
pleasure of my five senses. That is no reason. Why should
fgood come through evil? The question remains to be
answered, and it cannot be answered. The philosophy of
India was ccmipeiled to admit this.

The Vedanta was (and is) the boldest system of

1 ^ *, I*

PnikHahiiis s. uouu

114

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

religion. It stopped nowhere, and it had one advantage.
There was no body of priests who sought to supfwess every
man who tried to tell the truth. There was always
absolute religious freedtun. In India the bondi^ (d
supentition is a social one; here in the West society is
very free. Social matten in India are very stria, but
religious opinion is free. In England a man may dress
any way he likes, or eat what he likes — no one objects;
but if he misses attending church, then Mrs. Grundy is
down on him. He has to conform fint to what society
says on religion, and then he may think of the truth. In
India, on the other hand, if a man dines with one who
does not belong to his own caste, down comes society with
all its terrible powers and aushes him then and there.
If he wants to dress a little differently from the way in
which his ancestor dressed ages ago, he is done for. I have
heard of a man who was cast out by society because he
went several miles to see the first railway train. Well,
we shall presume that was not truel But in religion, we
find atheists, materialists, and Buddhists, aeeds, opinioiu,
and speculations of every phase and variety, some of a most
startling character, living side by side. Preachers d! all
sects go about teaching and getting adherents, and at the
very gates of the temples of gods, the Brihmins — to their
credit be it said — allow even the materialists to stand and
give forth their opinions.

Buddha died at a ripe old age. I remember a friimd
of mine, a great American scientist, who was fond of
reading his life. He did not like the death of Buddha,
because he was not audfied. What a false ideal For
a man to be great he must be murderedi Sudi ideas
never prevailed in India. This great Buddha travelled all
over India, denoundi^ her gods and even the God of die
universe, and yet he lived to a good old age. For eighty
years he lived, and had converted half the country.

Then, there were the QdUrvlkaa, who preached

MAYA AND TBEE CONCEmON OF GOD l»

honriUe thii^ the most rank, undisguised materialiuu,
■odh as in the nineteendi century diey dare not e^tenly
preach. These Charvakas wm-e allowed to preach frmn
temple to temple, and city to dty, that religion was all
nonsense, that it was priestcraft, that the Vedas were the
words and writings of fools, rogues, and demons, and that
there was neither God nor an eternal soul. If there was a
soul, why did it not come back after death drawn by the
love of wife and child? Their idea was that if there was
a soul it must still love after death, and want good things
to eat and nice dress. Yet no one hurt these Charvakas.

Thus India ‘has always had this magnificent idea of
religious freedom, and you must remember that freedom
is the first condition of growth. What you do not make
free, will never grow. The idea that you can make odten
grow and help their growth, that you can direct and guide
them, always retaining for yourself the freeddm of the
teacher, is nonsense, a dangerous lie which has reterded
the growth millions and millions of human beings in
this world. Let men have the light of liberty. That is the
only condition of growth.

We, in India, allowed liberty in spiritual matters, and
we have a tremendous spiritual power in religious thought
even today. You grant the same liberty in social matters,
and so have a splendid social organisation. We have not
given any freedom to the expansion of social matters, and
ours is a cramped society. You have never given any free-
dom in religious matters but with fire and sword have
enfmxed your belids, and the result it that religion is a
stunted, degenerated growth in the European mind. In
India, we have to take oS the diaddes from society; in
Europe, the chaiiu must be taken from the feet of spiritual
progress. Then will come a wrmdeiful growth and devd-
opment of man. If we discover that there is one unity
running through all these developmoatt, spiritual, -moral,
and todii^ we shall find that religion, in ^ fullest smise

116

SWAMI VIVUANANDA’S WORKS

of the woid, mtut come into society, and into our every*
day life. In the li^t of Vedanta you wQl understand that
all sciences are but manifestations of religion, and so is
everything that exists in this world.

We see, then, that through freedom the sdenoes were
built ; and in them we have two sets of opinions, the one
the materialistic and denouncing^ and the other the
positive and constructive. It is a most curious fact
that in every society you find them. Supposing there is
an evil in society, you will find immediately one group
rise up and denounce it in vindictive fashion, which some-
times degenerates into fanaticism. There are fanatics in
every society, and women frequently join in these
outcries, because of their impulsive nature. Every frmatic
who gets up and denounces smnething can secure a
following. It is very easy to break down ; a maniac can
break anything he likes, but it would be hard for him to
build up anything. These fanatics may do some good,
according to their light, but much more harm. Because
social institutions are not made in a day, and to change
them means removing the cause. Suppose there is an
evil ; denouncing it will not remove it, but you must go
to work at the root. First find out the cause, then remove
it, and the effect will be removed also. Mere outcry will
not produce any effect, unless indeed it produces
misfortune.

There were others who had sympathy in their hearts
and who understood the idea that we must go deep into
the cause; .these were the great saints. One faa you
must remember, that all the great teachen the world
have declared that they came not to destroy but to fulfil.
Many times this has not been understood, and their for-
bearance has been thought to be an unworthy compromise
with existing popular opinions. Even now, you occa-
sionally bear that these prophets and great teachers were
rather cowardly and ds^ not say and do what they

MAYA AND THE GONCm'lON OF GOD 117

thought was rig^t ; bat that was not so. Fanatics little
undetstand the infinite power love in the hearts of
these great s^s who lookjed upon the inhabitantt of this
world as their children. They were the real fathers, the
real gods, filled with infinite sympathy and patience Cor
everyone; they were ready to bear and forbear. They
knew how human society should grow, and patiently,
dowly, surely, went on applying their remedies, not by
denouncing and frightening people, but by gently and
kindly leading them upwards step by step. Such were
the writers of the Upanishads. They knew full well how
the old ideas of God were not reconcilable with the
advanced ethical ideas of the time; they knew full well
that, what the atheists were preaching contained a good
deal of truth, nay, great nuggets of truth ; but at the tame
time, they understood that those who wished to sever the
thread that bound the beads, who wanted to bhild a new
society in the air, would entirely fail.

We never build anew, we simply diange places ; we
cannot have anything new, we only change the position
of things. The seed grows into the tree, patiently and
gently; we must direct our energies towards the truth,
and fulfil the truth that exists, not try to make new truths.
Thus, instead of denouncing these old ideas of God as
unfit for modem times, the ancient sages began to seek out
the reality that was in them. The result was the Vedanta
philosophy, and out of the old deities, •out of the mono*
theistic God, the Ruler of the univene, they found yet
higher and higher ideas in what is called the Impersonal
Absolute ; they found oneness throughout the universe.

who sees in this world of manifoldness that One
running through all, in this world of death he who finds
that One Infinite Life, and in this world of insentience
and ignorance he who finds that One Light and Knowl*
e^e, unto him belongs eternal peace. Unto none else,
unto none else.

MAYA AND FREEDOM

(Delivered in London, 22nd October 1896)

“Trailing clouds of glory we come,” says the poet.
Not all of us come as trailing clouds of glory however;
some of us come as trailing black fogs : there can be no
question about that. But every one of us comes into this
world to fight, as on a battlefield. We come here weep-
ing to fight our way, as well as we can, and to make a
path for ourselves through this infinite ocean of life ; for-
ward we go, having long ages behind us and an immense
expanse beyond. So on we go, till death comes and takes
us off the field — ^victorious <nr defeated, we do not know.
And this is Miyi.

Hope is dominant in the heart of childhood. The
whole world is a golden vision to the opening eyes of the
child ; he thinks his will is supreme. As he moves onward,
at every step nature stands as an adamantine wall, barring
his future progress. He may hurl himself against it again
and again, striving to break through. The further he goes,
the further recedes the ideal, till death comes, and there
is release, perhaps. And this is Maya.

A man of science rises, he is thirsting after knowl-
edge. No sacrifice is too great, no struggle too hopdess
for him. He moves onward discovering secret after secret
of nature, searching out the secrets from her innermost
heart, and what for? What is it all for? Why should
we give him glory? Why should he acquire fame? Does
not nauure do infinitely more than any human being can
do? — and nature is dull, insentient. Why should it be g^ory
to imitate the dull, the insentient? Nature can hull a
thunderbolt of any magnitude to any distance. If. a man
can do one small part as much, we praise him and laud

MATA AND FREEDOM HR

bim to the ckwa. Why? Why ihould we pmiK him
for imiuting nature, imitating death, imitating duUnms,
knitating insenUence? The force of gravitation ean pull
to pieces the biggest mass that ever existed; yet it is
insentient. What g^ory is there in imitating the insen-
tient? Yet we ate all struggling after that. And this is
maya.

The senses drag the human soul out. Man is seeking
for pleasure and for happiness where it can never be
found. For countless ages we are all taught that dtis is
futile and vain, there is no happiness here. But we can-
not learn ; it is impossible for us to do so, except through
our own experiences. We try them, and a blow comes.
Do we learn then? Not even then. Like moths hurling
themselves against the flame, we are hurling ourselves
again and again into sense-pleasures, hoping to find satis-
faction there. We return again and again with freshened
energy ; thus we go on, till crippled and cheated we die.
And this is Maya.

So with our intellect. In our desire to solve the
mysteries of the universe, we cannot stop our questioning,
we feel we must know and cannot believe diat no
knowledge is to be gained. A few steps, and there arises
the wail of beginningless and endless, time which we
cannot surmount. A few steps, and there appears a wall
of boundless space which cannot be surmounted, and the
whole is irrevocably bound in by the walls of cause and
effect. We cannot go beyond them. Yet we Mruggle,
and still have to struggle. And this is Maya.

With every breath, with every pulsation of the heart,
with every one of our movements, we Urink we are free,
and the very same moment we are shown that we are not.
Bound slaves, nature’s bond-slaves, in body, in mind, in
all our thoughts, in all our feelings. And this is Maya.

There was never a mother who did not think her child
Was a bom gmius, the most ottraordinary child that was

120 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

ever bom ; she dotes upon her diild. Her whcde soul, is
in the child. The child grows up, perhaps becomes a
drunkard, a brute, ill-treats the mother, and the more be
ill-treats her, the more her love increases. The world
lauds it as the unselfish love of the mother, little dreaming
that the mother is a bora slave, she cannot help it. She
would a thousand times rather throw off the burden, but
she cannot. So she covers it with a mass of flowers, which
she calls wonderful love. And this is Maya.

We are all like this in the world. A legend tells how
once Ndrada said to Krishna, "Lord, show me Maya."
A few days passed away, and Krishna asked Narada to
make a trip with him towards a desert, and after walking
for several miles, Krishna said, "Narada, I am thirsty ; can
you fetch some water for me?” “I will go at once, sir,
and get you water." So Narada went. At a little dis-
tance there was a village ; he entered the village in search
of water and knocked at a door, which was opened by
a most beautiful young girl. At the sight of her he
immediately forgot that his Master was waiting for water,
perhaps dying for the want of it. He forgot everything
and began to talk with the girl. All that day he did not
return to his Master. The next day, he was again at the
house, talking to the girl. That talk ripened into love :
he asked the father for the daughter, and they were
married and lived there and had children. Thus twelve
years passed. His father-in-law died, he inherited his
property. He lived, as he seemed to think, a very happy
life with his wife and children, hh fields and his catde.
and so forth. Then came a flood. One night the river
rose until it overflowed its banks and flooded the whtde
village. Houses fell, men and animals were swept away
and drowned, and everything was floating in the rush of
the stream. Narada had to escape. With one hand he
held his wife, and with the other two his children;
another dtild was on his shoulders, and he was trying to

MAYA AND FREEDOM

111

ford this tremendotts flood. After a few steps he found
the current was too strong^ and the child on his shoulders
fell and was borne away. A cry of despair came from
Narada. In trying to save that child, he lost his grasp
upon one of the others, and it also was lost. At last his
wife, whom he clasped with all his might, was torn away
by the current, and he was thrown on the bank, weeping
and wailing in bitter lamentation. Behind him there came
a gentle voice, *‘My child, where is the water? You went
to fetch a pitcher of water, and I am -waiting for you ;
you have been gone for quite half an hour.'’ ’’Half an
hour!** Narada exclaimed. Twelve whole years had
passed through his mind, and all these scenes had hap-
pened in half an hour! And this is Maya.

In one form or another, we are all in it. It is a most
diflkult and intricate state of things to understand. It
has been preached in every country, taught ^erywhere,
but only believed in by a few, because until we get the
experiences oursdves we cannot believe in it. What does
it show? Something very terrible. For it is all futile.
Time, the avenger of everything, comes, and nothing
is left. He swallows up the saint and the sinner, the king
and the peasant, the beautiful and the ugly; he leaves
nothing. Everything is rushing towards that one goal,
destruction. Our knowledge, our arts, our sciences, every-
thing is rushing towards it. None can stem the tide, none
can hold it bad^ for a minute. We may try to forget it,
in the same way that persons in a plague-striken city try
to create oblivion by drinking; dancing, and other vain
attempts, and so becoming paralysed. So we are trying
to foiget, trying to create oblivion by all sorts of sense-
pleasures. And this is Maya.

Two ways have been proposed. One method, which
everyone knows, is very common, and that is: **lt may be
very true, but do not think of it. 'Make hay while the
sun shines;’ as the proverb says. It is all true, it is a fact*

la

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WCNIKS

but do not mind it. Seize the few pleasures you can, do
what little you can, do not look at the daric' side of die
picture, but always towards the hopeful, the positive
side.” There is some truth in this, but- there is also a
danger. The truth is that it is a good motive power.
Hope and a positive ideal are very good motive powers
for our lives, but there is a certain danger in them. The
danger lies in our giving up the struggle in despair. Such
is the case with those who preach, “Take the world as it
is; sit down as calmly and comfortably as you can and
be contented with all these miseries. When you receive
blows, say they are not blows but flowers ; and when you
are driven about like slaves, say that you are free. Day
and night tell lies to others and to your own souls, because
that is the only way to live happily.” This is what is
called practical, wisdom, and never was it more prevalent
in the world than in this nineteenth century: because
never were harder blows hit than at the present time,
never was competition keener, never were men so cruel
to their fellow-men as now ; and, therefore, must this conso-
lation be offered. It is put forward in the strongest way
at the present time ; but it fails, as it always must fail.
We cannot hide a carrion with roses ; it is impossible. It
would not avail long ; for soon the roses would fade, and
the carrion would be worse than ever before. So with our
lives. We may try to cover our old and festering sores
with doth of gold, but there comes a day when the doth
of gold is removed, and the sore in all its ugliness is
revealed.

Is there no hope then? True it is that we are all
slaves of Maya, bom in Maya, and live in Maya. Is there
then no wky out, no hope? That we are dl miserable,
that this world is really a prison, that even. our to-called
trailing beauty is but a {wison-bouse, and that even our
inidlectt and minds are prison-houses, have been known
for tges upon ages. There has never been a man, there

MAYA AND FREEDOM

m

has never been a human soul, who has not fdt this some-
time or other, however he may talk. And the old people
feel it most, because in them is the accumulated experi-
ence of a whole life, because they cannot be easily
cheated by the lies nature. Is there no way out? We
find that with all this, with this terrible fact before us, in
the midst of sorrow and suffering, even in this world
where life and death are synonymous, even here, there is
a still small voice that is ringing through all ages, through
every country, and in every heart: "This My Maya is
divine, made up of qualities, and very difficult to cross.
Yet those that come unto Me, cross the river of life.”
"Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest." This is the voice that is leading
us forwaiU. Man has heard it, and is hearing it all
through the ages. This voice comes to men when every-
thing seems to be lost and hope has fled, when man’s
dependence on his own strength has been crushed down,
and everything seems to melt away between his fingers, and
life is a hopeless ruin. Then he hears it. This is
called religion.

On the one side, therefore, is the bold assertion that
this is all nonsense, that this is Maya, but along with it,
there is the most hopeful assertion that beyond Maya,
there is a way out. On the other hand, practical men tell
us, “Don’t bother your heads about such nonsense as
religion and metaphysics. Live here ; this is a very bad
world indeed, but make the best of it.” Which put in
plain language means, live a hypocritical, lying life, a life
of continuous hraud, covering all sores in the best way you
can. Go on putting patch after patch, until everything is
lost, and you are a mass of patchwork. This is what is
called {nactkal life. Those that are satisfied with this
patchwork will never come to religion. Religion begins
with a tremendous dissatisfaction with the present state of
thti^ with our lives, and a hatted, an intense hatred, for

II— 9

124

SWAMl VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

this patching up of life, an unbounded disgust for finnid
and lies. He alone can be rdigious who dares say, as the
mighty Buddha once said under the Bo>tree, when this
idea of practicality appeared before him and he saw that
it was nonsense, and yet could not find a way out. When
the temptation came to him to give up his search after
truth, to go back to the world and live the old life of
fraud, calling things by wrong names, telling lies to one*
self and to everybody, he, the giant, conquered it
aud said, "Death is better than a vegetating ignorant 1^ ;
it is better to die on the battle-field than to live a life of
defeat." This is the basis of religion. When a man
takes this stand, he is on the way to find the truth, he is
on the way to God. That determination must be the first
impulse towards becoming rdigious. I will hew out a
way for myself. I will know the truth or give up my life
in the attempt. For on this side it is nothing, it is gone,
it is vanishing every day. The beautiful, hopeful, young
person of today is the veteran of tomorrow. Hopes and
joys and pleasures will die like Uossoms with tmnorrow's
frost. That is one side ; on the other, there are the great
charms of conquest, victories over all the ills life,
victory over life itself, the conquest of the universe. On
that side men can stand. Those who dare, therefore, to
struggle for victory, for truth, iot religion, are in the r^t
way ; and that is what the Vedas preach: Be not in
despair ; the way is very difficult, like walking on the e^e
of a rator; yet despair not, arise, awake, autd find the
ideal, the goal.

Now all these various manifestations of rdig^on, in
whatever shape and form they have come to mankind,
have this one cmnmon central bads. It is the prew^ng
of freedom, the way out of this worid. They never came
to reconcile the world and religion, but to cut the Gorman
knot, to establish religion in its own idesd, and not to
compromise with the world. That is what every vel%lon

MAYA AMD nUEEDOM

ttt

pfCMhes, and the duty oi the Vedanta is to hannonise all
these aq>irations, to make manifest the common ground
between all the rdigions ol the wodd, the h4;hest as well
as the lowest. What we call the most arrant superstition
and the highest philosophy really have a conunon aim in
that they both try to Aow the way out of the same diffi-
culty, and in most cases this way is through the help of
someone who is not himself bound by the laws nature,
in one word, someone who is free. In spite of all the
difficulties and differences of opinion about the nature of
the one free agent, whether he is a Personal God, or a
sentient .being like man, whether masculine, feminine, or
neuter — and the discussions have been endless — the
fundamental idea is the same. In q>ite o£ the almost
hopeless contradictions of the different systems, we 6nd
the golden thread of unity running through them all, and
in this philosophy, this golden thread has been traced,
revealed little by little to our view, and the first step to this
revelation is the common ground that all are advancing
towards freedom.

One curious fact present in the midst of all our joys
and sorrows, difficulties and struggles, is that we are surely
journeying towards freedom. The question was practically
this: “What is this universe? From what does it arise?
Into what does it go?“ And the answer was: "In freedom
it rises, in freedom it rests, and into .freedom it melts
away.” This idea freedmn you cannot rdinquish. Your
actions, your very lives will be lost without it. Every
moment nature is proving us to be daves and not free.
Yet, simuitaneottdy rises Ae other idea, that stiU we are
free. At every stqp we are knocked down, as it were, by
Maya, and shown ^at we are bound ; and yet at the same
moment, together with this blow, together with this feeliiq;
that we are bound, cmnes the other fediag that we are
free. Some inner vtdoe tdls us that we are free. But if we
attempt to realise thm freedom, to make it manifest, we

126

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

find the difficulties almost insuperable. Yet, in spite of
that it insists on asserting itself inwardly, '1 am free, 1 am
free." And if you study all the various religions ol the
world you will find this idea expressed. Not only religion
^you must not take this word in its narrow sense — ^but the
whole life of society is the assertion of that one principle
of freedom. All movements are the assertion that one
freedom. That voice has been heard by everyone,
whether he knows it or not, that voice which declares,
"Come unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden."
It may not be in the same language or the same form of
speech, but in some form or other, that voice calling for
freedom has been with us. Yes, we are bom here on
account of that voice ; every one of our movements is
for that. We are all rushing towards freedom, we are all
following that voice, whether we know it or not ; as the
children of the village were attracted by the musit of the
flute-player, so we are all following the music of the voice
without knowing it.

We are ethical when we follow that voice. Not only
the human soul, but all creatures from the lowest to the
highest have heard the voice and are rushing towards it ;
and in the struggle are either combining with each other
or pushing each other out of the way. Thus come com-
petition, joys, struggles, life, pleasure, and death, and the
whole universe is nothing but the result of this mad
struggle to ieach the voice. This is the manifestation of
nature.

What happens then? The scene begins to shift. As
soon as you know the voice and understand what it is, the
whole scene changes. The same world which was the
ghastly battle-field 'of Maya is now changed into some-
thing good and beautiful. We no longer curse nature, nor
say that the world is horrible and that it is all vain ; we
need no longer weep and wail. As soon as we under-
stand the voice, we see the reason why this strugg^ dunild

MAYA AND FREEDOM

127

be here, this fight, this competition, this difficulty, this
cruelty, these little pleasures and joys; we see that they
are in the nature of things, because without them there
would be no going towards the voice, to attain which we
are destined, whether we know it or not. All human life, *
all nature, therefore, is struggling to attain to freedom.
The sun is moving towards the goal, so is the earth in
circling round the sun, so is the moon in circling round the
earth. To that goal the planet is moving, and the air is
blowing. Everything is struggling towards that. The
saint is going towards that voice — ^he cannot help it, it is
no glory to him. So is the sinner. The charitable man is
going straight towards that voice, and cannot be hindered ;
the miser is also going towards the same destination :
the greatest worker of good hears the same voice
within, and he cannot resist it, he must go towards the
voice ; so with the most arrant idler. One stuinbles more
than another, and him who stumbles more we call bad,
him who stumbles less we call good. Good and bad are
never two different things, they are one and the same ;
the difference is not one of kind, but of degree.

Now, if the manifestation of this power of freedom is
really governing the whole universe — applying that to
religion, our special study — ^we find this idea has been the
one assertion throughout. Take the lowest form of reli*
gion where there is the worship of departed ancestors or
certain powerful and cruel gods; what is the prominent
idea about the gods or departed ancestors? That they are
superior to nature, not bound by its restrictions. The
worshipper has, no doubt, very limited ideas of nature.
He himself cannot pass through a wall, nor fly up into the
skies, but the gods whom he worships can do these things.
What is meant by that, philosophically? That the asser-
tion of freedom is there, that the gods whom he worships
are superior to nature as he knows it. So with those who
worship still higher beings. As the idea of nature expands.

Jf f y t

1 »

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

the uka of the soul which is superior to nature also expands,
until we come to what we call monotheimi, whi^ holds
that there is Maya (nature), and that there is smne Being;
who is the Ruler of this Maya.

• Here Vedanta begins, where these monotheistic ideas
first appear. But the Vedanta philosophy wants further
explanation. This explanation — ^that there is a Being
beyond all these manifestations of Maya, who is superior
to and independent of Maya, and who is attracting us
towards Himself, and that we are all going towards Him —
is very good, says the Vedanta, but yet the perception is
not clear, the vision is dim and hazy, althou^ it does not
directly contradict reason. Just as in your hymn it is said,
"Nearer my God to Thee," the same hymn would be very
good to the Vedantin, only he would change a word, and
make it, “Nearer my God to me.” The idea that the goal
is far off, far beyond nature, attracting us all towards it,
has to be brought nearer and nearer, without degrading
or degenerating it. The God eff heaven becomes the God
in nature, and the God in nature becomes the God who
is nature, and the God who is nature becomes the God
within this temple of the body, and the God dwelling in
the temple of the body at last becomes the temple itself,
becomes the soul and man — and there it reaches the last
words it can teach. He whom the sages have been
seeking in all these places is in our own hearts ; the voice
that you heard was right, says* the Vedanta, but the
direction you' ^ve to the voice was wrong. That ideal of
freedom that you perceived was correct, but you projected
it outside yourself, and that was your mistake. Bring it
nearer and nearer, until you find that it was all the time
within you, it was the Self of your own self. That
fiteedom was your own nature, and this Maya never . bound
you. Nature never has power over you. Like a frightened
child you were dreaming that it was throttling you, and
the rdease &om this fear is the goal : not only to see it

MAYA AND FREEDOM

itttdkctually, Init to perceive it, actualiie it, much more
definitely than we perwive this world. Then we shall know
that we are free. Then, and then alone, will all difficulties
vanish, then will all the perplexities of heart be
smoothed away, all crookedness made straight, then will
vanish the ddusitm manifoldness and nature ; and Maya,
instead of being a horrible, hopeless dream, as it is now.
will become beautiful, suid this earth, instead of being a
prison-house, will become our playground ; and even
dangos and difficulties, even all sufferings, will become
deified and show us their real nature, will show us that
behind everything, as the substance of everything. He is
standing, and that He is the one real Self.

THE ABSOLUTE AND MANIFESTATION

(Delivered in London, J896)

The one question that is most difficult to grasp in
undentanding the Advaita philosophy, and the one ques*
lion that will be asked again and again and that will always
remain is: How has the Infinite, the Absolute, becmne the
finite? I will now take up this question, and, in order to

illustrate it, I will use a figure.

Here is the Absolute (a),
and this is the universe (b).
The Absolute has become the
universe. By this is not only
meant the material world, but
the mental world, the spiritual
world — ^heavens and earths,
and in fact, everything that
exists. Mind is the name of
a change, and body the name
of another change, and so
on, and all these changes
compose our universe. This
Absolute (a) has become the universe (b) by coming
through time, space, and causation (c). This is the central
idea of Advaita. Time, space, and causation are like the
glass through which the Absolute is seen, and when It is
seen on the lower side. It appears as the universe. Now
we at once gather from this that in the Absolute there
is neither time, space, nor causation. The idea of time
cannot be there, seeing that there is no mind, no thought.
The idea of space cannot be there, seeing that there is
no external change. What you call motion and causation
cannot exist where there is only One. We have to
understand this, and impress it on our minds, that what
we call causation begins after, if we may be permitted

(a) The Absolute
(c)

Time

Space

Causation

(b) The Universe

THE ABSOLUTE & MANIFESTATION ISl

to say so, the degeneration of the Absolute into the
phenomenal, and not before; that our ivill, our desire,
and all these things always come after that. I think
Schopenhauer’s philosophy makes a mistake in its inter-
pretation of Vedanta, for it seeks to make the will every-
thing. Schopenhauer makes the will stand in the place
of the Absolute. But the absolute cannot be presented
as will, for will is something changeable and phenomenal,
and over the line, drawn above time, space, and causation,
there is no change, no motion ; it is only below the line
that external motion and internal motion, called thought,
begin. There can be no will on the other side, and will
therefore, cannot be the cause of this universe. Coming
nearer, we see in our own bodies that will is not the
cause of every movement. I move this chair ; my will
is the cause of this movement, and this will becomes
manifested as muscular motion at the other end. But the
same power that moves the chair is moving the heart, the
lungs, and so on, but not through will. Given that the
power is the same, it only becomes will when it rises to the
plane of consciousness, and to call it will before it has
risen to this plane is a misnomer. This makes a good deal
of confusion in Schopenhauer’s philosophy.

A stone falls and we ask, why? This question is
possible only on the supposition that nothing happens
without a cause. I request you to make this very dear in
your minds, for whenever we ask why anything happens,
we are taking for granted that everything that happens
must have a why, that is to say, it must have been
preceded by something else which acted as the cause.
This precedence and succession are what we call the law
of causation. It means that everything in the universe is
by turn a cause and an effect. It is the cause of certain
things which come after it, and is itself the effect of some-
thing else which has preceded it. This is called the law
of causation and is a necessary condition of all our

IK SWAMI VIVEKANANOA'S WORKS

thinking. We bdieve that every partide in the universe,
whatever it be, is in rdation to every other partide. There
has been much discussion as to how this idea arose.
In Europe, there have been intuitive philosojdiers sdio
believed that it was constitutional in humanity, others have
believed it came from experience, but the question has
never been settled. We shall see later on what the
Vedanta has to say about it. But first we have to undor-
siand this that the very asking of the question "why” pre*
supposes that everything round us has been preceded by
certain things and wiU be succeeded by certain other
things. The other belief involved in this question is that
nothing in the universe is independent, that everything is
acted upon by something outside itself. Interdependence
is the law of the whole universe. In asking what caused
the Absolute, what an error we ate making I To ask this
question we have to suppose that the Absolute also is
lx>und by something, that It is dependent on something ;
and in making this supposition, we drag the Absolute
down to the level of the universe. For in the Absolute,
there is neither time, space, nor causation ; It is all one.
That which exists by itself alone cannot have any cause.
That which is free cannot have any cause : else it would
not be free, but bound. That whi^ has relativity cannot
be free. Thus we see the very question, why the Infinite
became the finite, is an impossible one, for it is self<ontra-
dictory. Coming from subtleties to the logic of our
common plane, to common sense, we can see this from
another side, when we seek to know how the Absolute has
become the relative. Supposing we knew the answer,
would the Absolute remain the Absolute? It would have
become relative. What is meant by knowledge in our
common-sense idea? It is only something that has become
limited by our mind, that we know, and when it is b^ond
our mind, it is not knowledge. Now if the Absi^ute be-
comes limited by the mind. It is no more Absolute ; It has

Tfffi ABSOLUTE tc MANIFESTATION

1 »

becwne finite. Everything limited by the mind become*
finite. Thereiore, to know the Absolute is again a contra-
diction in terms. That U why this question has never been
answered, because if it were answered, there would no
more be an Absolute. A God known is no more God :
He has become foiite like one of us. He cannot be known.
He is always the Unknowable One.

But what Advaita says is that God is more than know-
able. This is a great fact to learn. You must not go home
with the idea that God is unknowable in the sense in which
i^ostics put it. For instance, here is a chair, it is known
to us. But what is beyond ether or whether people exist
there or not is possibly unknowable. But God is neither
known nor unknowable in this sense. He is something still
higher than known ; that is what is meant by God being
unknown and unknowable. The expression is not used in
the sense in which it may be said ,that some qu^tions are
unknown and unknowable. God is more than known.
This chair is known, but God is intensely more than that,
because in and through Him we have to know this diair
itself. He is the Witness, the eternal Witness of all know-
ledge. Whatever we know we have to know in and
through Him. He is the Essence of our own Self. He is
the Essence of this ego, this I and we cannot know any-
thing excepting in and through that 1. Therefore you have
to know everything in and through the Brahman. To know
the chair you have to know it in and through God. Thus
God is infinitely nearer to us than' the chair, but yet He is
infinitely higher. Neither known, nor unknown, but some
thing infinitely higher than either. He is your Self. "Who
would live a second, who would breathe a second in this
universe, if that Blessed One were not filling it?” Because
in and through Him we breathe, in and through Him we
exist. Not that He is standing somewhere and making my
blood circulate. What is meant is that He is the Essence
of all this, the Soul of my soul. You cannot by any

134

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

possibility say you know Him ; it would be degrading Him.
You cannot get out trf yourself, so you cannot know Him.
Knowledge is objectification. For instance, in memory
you are objectifying many things, projecting them out of
yourself. All memory, all the things which I have seen
and which I know are in my mind. The pictures, the
impressions of all these things, are in my mind, and when
I would try to tliink of them, to know them, the first act
of knowledge would be to project them outside. This
cannot be done with God, because He is the Essence of
our souls ; we cannot project Him outside ourselves. Here
is one of the profoundest passages in Vedanta: “He that
is the Essence of your soul. He is the Truth, He is the
Self, thou art That, O Shvetaketu.” This is what is meant
by “Thou art God.” You cannot describe Him by any
other language. All attempts of language, calling Him
father, or brother, or our dearest friend, are attempts to
objMtify God, which cannot be done. He is the Eternal
Subject of everything. I am the subject of this chair ; 1
see the chair ; so God is the Eternal Subject of my soul.
How can you objectify Him, the Essence of your souls,
the Reality of everything? Thus, I would repeat to yon
once more, God is neither knowable nor unknowable, but
something infinitely higher than either. He is one with
us ; and that which is one with us is neither knowable nor
unknowable, as our own self. You cannot know your own
self; you /cannot move.it out and make it an objea to
look at, because you are that and cannot separate your-
self from it. Neither is it unknowable, for what is better
known than younelf ? It is really the centre of our knnw>
ledge. In exactly the same sense, God is neither unknow-
able nor known, but infinitely higher than both ; for He is
our real Self.

Pint, we see then that the question, "What caused the
Absolute?” is a contradiction in terms ; and secondly, we
find that the idea of God in the Advaita is' this Oneness ;

THE ABSOLUTE k MANIFESTATION

195

and, therefore, we cannot objectify Him, for we are always
living and moving in Him, whether we know it or not.
Whatever we do is always through Him. Now the question
is; What are time, space, and causation? Advaita means
non-duality there are no two, but one. Yet we see that
here is a proposition that the Absolute is manifesting Itself
as many, through the veil of time, space, and causation.
Therefore it seems that here are two, the Absolute and
Miyi (the sum total of time, space, and causation). It
seems apparently very convincing that there are two.
To this the Advaitist replies that it cannot be called two.
To have two, we must have two absolute independent
existences which cannot be caused. In the first place,
time, space, and causation cannot be said to be independ-
ent existences. Time is entirely a dependent existence ;
it changes with every change of our mind. Sometimes in
dream one imagines that one has lived several years ; at
other times several months were passed as one second.
So, time is entirely dependent on our state of mind.
Secondly, the idea of time vanishes altogether, sometimes.
So with space. We cannot know what space is. Yet it
is there, indefinable, and cannot exist separate from
anything else. So with causation.

The one peculiar attribute we find in time, space, and
causation is that they cannot exist separate from other
things. Try to think of space without colour, or limits,
or any connection with the things around — just abstract
space. You cannot ; you have to think of it as the space
between two limits or between three objects. It has to
be connected with some object to have any existence. So
with time ; you cannot have any idea of abstract time, but
you have to take two events, one preceding and the other
succeeding, and join the two events by the idea of succes-
sion. Time depends on two events, just as space has to be
related to outside objects. And the idea of causation is
inseparable from time and space. This is the peculiar

IM

SWAMI VIVUCANANDA'S WORKS

thing about them that they have no independent existence.
They have not even the existence which the chair ot the
wall has. They are as shadows around everything «diich
you cannot catch. They have no real existence ; yet they
are not non-existent, seeing that through them all things
are manifesting as this univene. Thus we see, first, that
the combination of time, space, and causation has neither
existence nor non-existence. Secondly, it stmietimes
vanishes. To give an illustration, there is a wave on the
ocean. The wave is the same as the ocean certainly, and
yet we know it is a wave, and as such different from the
ocean. What makes this difference? The name and the
form ; that is, the idea in the mind and the form. Now,
can we think of a wave-form as something separate from
the ocean? Certainly not. It is always associated with
the ocean idea. If the wave subsides, the form vanishes
in a moment, and yet the form was not a delusion. So
long as the wave existed the form was there, and you
were bound to see the form. This is Maya.

The whole of this universe, therefore, is, as it were, a
peculiar form ; the Absolute is that ocean while you and I,
and suns and stars, and everything else are various waves
of that ocean. And what makes the waves different?
Only the form, and that form is time, space, and causation,
all entirely dqwndent on the wave. As soon as the wave
goes, they vanish. As soon as the individual gives up this
Maya, it vanishes for him and he becomes free. The
whole struggle is to get rid of this clii^ing on to time,
space, and causation, which are always obstades in our
way. What is the theory of evolution? What are the two
factors? A tremendous potential power which is tr^ng
to express itself, uid circumstances which are holding it
down, the environments not allowing it to eiqurets itsdf.
So, in order to fight with these environments, tlte power h
uking new bodies again and again. An amoeba, in the
strt^le, gets another body and conquers stnne obstacles.

THE ABSOLUlt ft MANIFESTATION IS7

(hen gets another body and so on, until it becomes man.
Now, if you Cany this idea to its logical conclusion, there
mutt come a time when that pow«r that was in the amoeba
and which evolved as man will have conquered all the
obstructions that nature can bring before it and will thus
escape from all its environments. This idea expressed in
metaphysics will take this form ; there are two components
in every action, the one the subject, the other the object,
and the one aim of life is to make the subject master of
the object. For instance, I feel unhappy because a man
scolds me. My struggle will be to make myself stroi^
enough to conquer the environment, so that he may scold
and 1 shall not feel. That is how we are all trying to
conquer. What is meant by morality? Making the subject
strong by attuning it to the Absolute, so that finite
nature ceases to have control over lu. It is -a logical
conclusion of our philosophy that there must come a time
when we shall have conquered all the environments,
because nature is finite.

Here is another thii^ to learn. How do you know
that nature is finite? You can only know this dirough
metaphysics. Nature is that Infinite under limitations.
Therefore it is finite. So, there must come a time when
we shall have conquered all environments. And how are
we to conquer them? We cannot possiUy conquer all the
objective environments. We cannot. Tlys little fish wants
to fly from its enemies in the water. How does it do so?
By evolving wings smd becoming a bird. The fish did not
change the water or the air; the change was in itself.
Chapge js always subjective. All through evolution you
find'that the conquest of nature comes by change in the
subject. Apply this to rdigion and morality, and you will
&id that the amquest ot evil comes by the change in the
subjective alone. That is how the Advaita systm gets iu
wh<de feroe« on the subjective side of man. To talk of evil
smd misery is mmsense. because they do not exist ouuide.

1S8

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

If 1 am immune against all anger, I never feel angry. If I
am proof against all hatred, I never feel hatred.

This is, thoefore, the process by which to achieve that
conquest — through the subjective, by perfecting the sub>
jective. I may make bold to say that the only religitm
which agrees with, and even goes a little further than
modem researches, both on physical and moral lines is
the Advaita, and that is why it appeals to modem scientists
so much. They find that the old dualistic theories are not
enough for them, do not satiny their necessities. A man
must have not only faith, but intellectual faith too. Now,
in this later part of the nineteenth century, such an idea
as that religion coming from any other source than one’s
own hereditary religion must be false shows that there is
still weakness left, and such ideas must be given up. I do
not mean that such is the case in this country alone, it is in
every country, and nowhere more than in my own. This
Advaita was never allowed to come to the people. At
first some monks got hold of it and took it to the forests,
and so it came to be called the "Forest Philosophy”. By
the meKy of the Lord, the Buddha came and preadied it
to the masses, and the whole nation became Buddhists.
Longf after that, when atheists and agnostics had destroyed
the nation again, it was found out that Advaita was the
only way to save India from materialism.

Thus has Advaita twice saved India from materialism..
Before tlie Buddha came, materialism had Sfucead to a
fearful extent, and it was of a most hideous kind, not like
that of the present day, but of a for worse nature. 1 am a
materialist in a certain sense, because I believe that there
is only One. That is what the materialist wants you to
believe ; only he calls it matter and I call it God. The
materialists admit that out of this -matter all hope, and
religion, and everything have come. 1 say, all these have
come out of Brahman. But the materialism that prevailed
before Buddha was that crude sort of materialism whidi

THE ABSOLXrm h MANIFESTATION 189

"Eat, driidi, and be merry ; there is no God, soul,
or heaven ; rdigion is a concoction of wicked priests.*' It
taught the morality that so long as you live, you must
try to live happily ; eat, though you have to borrow money
for the food, and never mind about repaying it. That was
the old materialism, and that kind of philosophy spread so
much that even today it has got the name of "popular
philosophy". Buddha brought the Vedanta to light, gave
it to the people, and saved India. A thousand years after
his death a similar sUte of things again prevailed. The
mobs, the masses, and various races, had been converted
to Buddhism; naturally the teachings of the Buddha
became in time degenerated, because most of the people
were very ignorant. Buddhism taught no God, no Ruler
of the universe, so gradually the masses brought their gods,
and devils, and hobgoblins out again, and a tremendous
hotchpotch was made of Buddhism in India. Again
materialism came to the fore, taking the form of licence
with the* higher classes and superstition with the lower.
Then Shankaracharya arose and once more revivified the
Vedanta philosophy. He made it a rationalistic philosophy.
In the Upanishads the arguments are often very obscure.
By Buddha the moral side of the philosophy was laid stress
upon, and by Shankaracharya, the intellectual side. He
worked out, rationalised, and placed before men the
wonderful coherent system of Advaiu.

Materialism prevails in Europe today. You may pray
for the salvation of the modem sceptics, but they do not
yield, they want reason. The salvation of Europe depends
on a rationalistic religion, and Advaita— the non-duality,
the Oneness, the idea of the Impersonal God — is the only
rdigion that can have any hold on any intellectual people.
It comes whenever rdigion seems to disappear and irreligion
seems to prevail, and that is why it has taken ground in
Europe and America,

I would say one thing more in connection with this
U— 10

140

SWAia VIVIEAMAMDA’S WORKS

philosophy. In the old Upanishads we find mUnne
poetry; their authors were poets. Plato says, inspiration
comes to people through poetry, and it/ seems as if these
ancient Rishis, seers erf Truth, were raised above humanity
to show these truths tihrot^ poetry. They never preached,
nor philosophised, nor wrote. Music came out <rf their
hearts. In Buddha we had the great, universal heart and
infinite patience, making rdigion practical and brii^ng it
to everyone’s door. In Shankaracharya we saw tremen-
dous intellectual power, throwing the scorching light of
reason upon everything. We want today that bright sun
of intellectuality joined with the heart of Buddha, the
wonderful infinite heart of love and mercy. This union
will give us the highest philosophy. Science and religion
will meet and shake hands. Poetry and philosophy will
become friends. This will be the rdigion of the future, and
if we can work it out, we may be sure that it will be for
all times and peoples. This is the one way that will prove
acceptable to modem sdenoe, for it has almost come to it.
When the scientific teacher asserts that all things are the
manifestation <rf one force, does it not remind you of the
God of whom you hear in the Upanishads: “As the one
fire entering into the universe expresses itself in various
forms, even so that One Soul is expressing Itself in every
soul and yet is infinitely more besides?” Do you not see
whither sdence is tending? The Hindu nation proceeded
through the study of the mind, through metaphysia and
logic. The European nations start from ^temd nature,
and now they too are coming to the same results. We find
that searching through the mind we at last come to that
Oneness, that Universal One, the Intenud Soul of every-
thing, the Essence and Reality of evttything, the Evdr-
Free, the Ever-blisrful, the Ever-Existii^. Through matenal
science we come to the same Oneness. Sdence today
is tdling us that all things are but the manifestatum,
of one energy which is the sum total of everytiting which

THE ABSOLUTE h MANlfESTATION IH

exists, and the trmd oi humanity is towards freedom and
not towards bondage. Why should men be moral? Because
through morality is the path towards freedom, and
immorality leads to bondage.

Another peculiarity of the Advaita system is that from
its very start it is non-destructive. This is another glory,
the boldness to preach, “Do not disturb the faith of any,
even of those who through ignorance have attached them-
selves to lower forms of worship.” That is what it says, do
not disturb, but help everyone to get higher and higher ;
include all humanity. This philosophy preaches a God
who is a sum total. If you seek a universal religion which
can apply to everyone, that religion must not be composed
of only the parts, but it must always be their sum total and
include all degrees of religious development.

This idea is not dearly found in any other religious
system. They are all parts equally struggling to attain to
the whole. The existence of the part is only for this. So,
from the very first, Advaita had no antagonism with the
various sects existing in India. There are dualists existing
today, and their number is by far the largest in India,
because dualism naturally appeals to less educated minds.
It is a very convenient, natural, common-sense explanation
of the universe. But with these dualists, Advaita has no
quarrel. The one thinks that God is outside the universe,
somewhere- in heaven, and the other, that He is his own
Soul, and that it will be a blasphemy to call Him anything
more distant. Any idea of separation would be terrible.
He is the nearest of the near. There is no word in any
language to express this nearness except the word One-
ness. With any other idea the Advaitist is not satisfied
just as the dualist is shocked with the concept of the
Advaita, and thinks it blasphemous. At the same time the
Advaitist knows that these other ideas must be, and so
has no quarrel with the dualist who is on the right road.
From his standpoint, the dualist will have to see many.

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SlVAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

It is a constitutional necessity of his standpoint. Let him
have it. The Advaitist knows that whatever may be his
theories, he is going to the same goal as he himself. There
he differs entirely from the dualist who is forced by his
point of view to believe that all differing views are wrong.
The dualists all the world over natuially believe in a
Personal God who is purely anthropomorphic, who like a
great potentate in this world is pleased with some and
displeased with others. He is arbitrarily pleased with
some people or races and showers blessing upon them.
Naturally the dualist comes to the conclusion that God has
favourites, and he hopes to be one of them. You will find
that in almost every religion is the idea: “We aie the
favourites of our God, and only by believing as we do,
can you be taken into favour with Him." Some dualists
are so narrow as to insist that only the few that have been
predestined to the favour of God can be saved ; the rest
may try ever so hard, but they cannot be accepted. I
challenge you to show me one dualistic religion which has
not more or less of this exclusiveness. And, therefore, in
the nature of things, dualistic religions are bound to fight
and quarrel with each other, and this they have ever been
doing. Again, these dualists win the popular favour by
appealing to the vanity of the uneducated. They like to
feel that they enjoy exclusive privileges. The dualist thinks
you cannot be moral until you have a God with a rod in
His hand*, ready to punish you. The unthinking masses
are generally dualists, and they, poor fellows, have been
persecuted for thousands of years in every country; and
their idea salvation is, therefore, freedom from the fear
of punishment. 1 was asked by a clergyman in America,
“What! you have no Devil in your religion? How can
that be?” But we find that the best and the greatest men
that have been bom in the world have worked with that
high impersonal idea. It is the Man who said, “I and
my Father are One”, whose power has descended unto

THE ABSOLUTE k MANIFESTATION MS

millions. For thousands irf years it has wothed for good.
And we know that the same Man, because he was a non-
dualist, was merciful to others. To the masses who could
not conceive of anything higher than a Persond God, he
said, “Pray to your Father in heaven.” To others who
could grasp a higher idea, he said, “I am the vine, ye are
the branches,” but to his disciples to whom he revealed
himself more fully, he proclaimed the highest truth, “I
and my Father are One.”

It was the great Buddha, who never cared for the
dualist gods, and who has been called an atheist and
materialist, who yet was ready to give up his body for a
poor goat. That Man set in motion the highest moral
ideas any nation can have. Whenever there is a moral
code, it is ray of light from that Man. We cannot force
the great hearts of the world into narrow limits, and keep
them there, especially at this time in the history of
humanity when there is a degree of intellectual develop-
ment such as was never dreamed of even a hundred years
ago, when a wave of scientific knowledge has arisen
which nobody, even fifty years ago, would have dreamed
of. By trying to force people into narrow limits you
degrade them into animals and unthinking masses. You kill
their moral life. What is now wanted is a combination of
the greatest heart with the highest intellectuality, of infinite
love with infinite knowledge. The Vedaptist gives no other
attributes to God except these three — that He is Infinite
Existence, Infinite Knowledge, and Infinite Bliss, and he
regards these three as One. Existence without knowledge
and love cannot be; knowledge without love and love
without knowledge cannot be. What we want is the
harmony of Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss Infinite. For
that is our goal. We want harmony, not one-sided develop-
ment. And it is possible to have the intellect of a
Shankara with the heart of a Buddha. I hope we shall all
struggle to attain to that blessed cmnlnnation.

GOD IN EVERYTHING

{Delivered in London, 27th October 1896)

We have seen how the greater portion of our life must
of necessity be filled with evils, however we may resist,
and that this mass of evil is practically almost infinite for
us. We have been struggling to remedy this since the
beginning of time, yet everything remains very much the
same. The more we discover remedies, the more we find
ounelves beset by subtler evils. We have also seen that
all religions propose a God, as the one way of escaping
these difficulties. All religions tell us that if you take the
world as it is, as most practical people would advise us to
do in this kge, then nothing would be left to us but evil.
They further assert that there is something beyond this
world. This life in the five senses, life in the material
world, is not all ; it is only a small portion, and merely
superficial. Behind and beyond is the Infinite in which
there is no more evil. Some people call It God, some
Allah, some Jehovah, Jove, and so on. The Vedantin
calls It Brahman.

The first impression we get of the advice given by
religions is that we had better terminate our existence.
To the question how to cure the evils of life, the answer
apparently is, give Up life. It reminds one of the old story
A mosquito settled on the head of a man, and a friend,
wishing to kill the mosquito, gave it such a blow that
he killed both man and mosquito. The remedy ot evil
seems to suggest a similar course ot action. Life is full
ot ills, the world is full of evils ; that is a fact no one
who is old enough to know the world can deny.

But what is remedy proposed by all the rei^^ons ?
That this wmrld is nothing. Beyond this world is something

COP IN IVMLY T H PIO

14S

wiikh is voy tai. Heie oomes the dUBcnlty. The
xemeily seems to destroy everything. How can that be a
remedy ? Is diere no way out then ? The Vedana says
that what all the rdigions advance is perfectly true, but
it diould be prq^y understood. Often it is misunder-
stood, because the vdigitms are not very dear in their
meaning. What we really want is head and heart com-
bined. The heart is great indeed ; it is through the heart
that come the great inspirations of Itf e. 1 would a hundred
times rather have a little heart and no brain, than be all
brains and no heart. Life is possible, progress is possible
for him who has heart, but he who has no heart and only
brains dies of dryness.

At the same time we know that he who is carried
along by his heart alone has to undergo many ills, for
now and then he is liable to tumble into pitfalls. The
combination of heart and head is what we want. I do
not mean that a man should compromise his heart for his
brain or vke versa, but let everyone have an infinite
amount heart and feeling, and at the same time an
infinite amount of reason. Is diere any limit to what we
want in this world ? Is not the wmld infinite ? There is
room for an infinite amount of feeling, and so also for an
infinite amount of culture and reason. Let them come
together without limit, let them be running together, at it
were, in parallel lines each with the other.

Most of the rdigions understand the fact, but the error
into which they all teem to fall is the tame; they ate
carried away by the heart, the fedings. There is evil in
the world, give up the wmld ; that is the great teaching,
and the ordy teaching, no doubt. Give up the wmid.
There cannot be two opinions that to understand the truth
evoyone of us has to give up error. There cannot be two
opinioos that everyone, of us in order to have good must
give up evil ; there cannot be two opinions that everyone
of ua to have Me mpst up what it demh.

146

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

And yet, what remains to ui, if this theory involves
giving up the life of the senses, the life as we know it ?
And what else do we mean by life ? If we give this up,
what remains ?

We shall understand this better, when, later on, we
come to the more philosophical portions of the Vedanta.
But for the present I beg to state that in Vedanta alone we
find a rational solution of the problem. Here I can only
lay before you what the Vedanta seeks to teach, and that
is the deification of the world. The Vedanta does not in
reality denounce the world. The ideal of renunciation
nowhere attains such a height as in the teachings of the
Vedanta. But, at the same time, dry suicidal advice is
not intended ; it really means deification of the world —
giving up the world as we think of it, as we know it,
as it appears to us — and to know what it really is. Deify
it : it is God alone. We read at the commencement of
one of the oldest of the Upanishads, “Whatever exists
in this universe is to be covered with the Lord.”

We have to cover everything with the Lord Himsdf,
not by a false sort of optimism, not by blinding our eyes
to the evil, but by really seeing God in everything. Thus
we have to give up the world, and when the world is given
up, what remains ? God. What is meant ? You can
have your wife ; it does not mean that you are to abandon
her, but tf^at you are to see God in the wife. Give up
your children ; what does that mean ? To turn them out
of doors, as some human brutes do in every country ?
Certainly not. That is diabolism ; it is not religion. But
see God in your children. So, in everything. In life and
in death, in happiness and in misery, the Lord is equally
present. The whole world is full of the Lord. Open your
eyes and see Him. This is what Vedanta teadies. Give
up the world which you have conjectured, because your
conjecture was based upon a very partial experience, upon
very poor reasoning, and upon your own weakness.

GOD IN EVERrmiNG

1«7

Give it up ; the world we have been thinkii^ of lo long,
the world to whidi we have been dii^ng so loi^;, is a
false world of our own creation. Give that up; open
your eyes and see that as such it never existed ; it was a
dream, Miyi. What existed was the Lord Himsdf. It it
He who is in the child, in the wife, and in the husband ;
it is He who it in the good and in the bad ; He it in the
sin and in the sinner ; He is in life and in death.

A tremendous assertion indeed I Yet that is the
theme which the Vedanta wants to demonstrate, to teach,
and to preach. This is just the opening theme.

Thus we avoid the dangers of life and its evils. Do
not desire anything. What makes us miserable ? The
cause of all miseries from which we suffer is desire. You
desire something; and the desire is not fulfilled ; the result
is distress. If there is no desire, there is no suffering. But
here, too, there is the danger of my being misunderstood.
So it is necessary to explain what I mean by giving up
desire and becoming free from all misery. The walls
have no desire and they never suffer. True, but they
never evolve. This chair has no desires, it never suffers :
but it is always a chair. There is a glory in happiness,
there is a g^ory in suffering. If I may dare to say so, there
is a utility in evil too. The great lesson in misery we all
know. There are hundreds of things we have done in
our lives which we wish we had neves done, but whidi,
at the same time, have been great teachen. As for me,
I am glad I have done scunething good and many things
bad ; glad I have done something right, and glad I have
committed many errors, because every one of them has
been a great lesson. I, as I am now, am the resultant of
all I have done, all I have thought. Every action and
thought have had their effect, and these effects are the
sum total of my progress.

We all understand that desires are wrong, but what it
meant by givii^ up desires ? How could life go on ? It

148

SWAMI VXVESANANDA'8 WORKS

would be the sune suiddal advice, kilUng the deriie and
the man too. The solution is this. Not that you duMiU
not have property; not that you diould not have things
which are necessary and things which are even luxtuieSb
Have all that you want, and more, only know the truth
and realise it. Wealth does not bel(mg to anybody.
Have no idea o£ p^fuietorship, possessmrship. You are
nobody, nor am 1, nor anyone else. All belongs to the
Lord, because the opening verse told us to put the Lord
in everything. God is in the wealth that you enjoy. He
is in the desire that rises in your mind. He is in the thii^
you buy to satisfy your desire; He is in your beautiful
attire, in your beautiful ornaments. This is the line of
thought. All will be metamorphosed as soon as you
bq;in to see things in that light. If you put God in your
every movement, in your conversation^ in your form, in
everything, the whole scene changes, and the world,
instead of appearing as one of woe and misery, will
become a heaven.

*‘The kingdom of heaven is within you," says Jesus ;
so says the Vedanta, and every great teacher. "He that
hath eyes to see, let him see, and he that hath ears to
hear, let him hear.” The Vedanta proves that the truth
for which we have been searching all this time is present,
and was all the time with us. In our ignorance, we
thought we had lost it, and went about the world crying
and weeping, struggling to find the truth, while all along
it was dwelling in our own hearts. There alone can we
find it.

It we understand the gpivii^ up of the world in its
old, crude sense, then it would come to this: that we must
not work, that we must be idle, sitting like lumps of
earth, neitho: thinking nmr doiiq; anything, but must
become fatalists, driven about by every dtcumstanoc^
wdered about by the laws of nature, drifdi^ from {dace to
place. That would be the result. But that is not. what is

OGD IS SVEBTraWG

149

meant. We must woik. Oidinary mankind, driven eyerf-
where by &lse desire, what do they know of work t The
man fHopelled by his own feelha^i and his own senses,
what does he know about work ? He works, who is not
propdled by his own desires, by any selfishness whatso-
ever. He works, who has no ulterior motive in view.
He works, who has nothing to gain from w<nk.

Who enjoys the picture, the seller or the seer ? The
seller is busy with his accounts, computing what his gain
will be, how much profit he will r«dise on the picture.
H!s brain is full of that. He is locdcing at the hammer,
and watching the bids. He is intent on hearing how fast
the bids are rising. That man is enjoying the picture who
has gone there without any intention of buying or selling.
He looks at the picture and enjoys it. So this whole
universe is a picture, and when these desires have
vanished, men will enjoy the world, and then this buying
and selling and these foolish ideas of possession will be
ended. The money-lender gone, the buyer gime, the
seller gone, this world remains the picture, a beautiful
painting. I never read of any more beautiful conception
of God than the following: "He is the Great Poet, the
Ancient Poet ; the whole universe is His poem, coming in
verses and rhymes and rhythms, written in infinite bliss.”
When we have given up desires, then alone shall we be
able to read and enjoy ^s universe of ,God. Thmt every-
thing will become deified. Nooks and comers, by-ways
and shady places, which we thought dark and unholy, will
be all deified. They will all reveal their true nature, and
we dsdl smile at ourselves and think that all this weeping
and crying has been but diild's play, and we woe only
standing by, watching.

So, do your work, says the Vedanta. It first advises
us how to work — by giving up— giving the aj^Murent,
illusive woild. What is meant by that ? Seeing God
everywhere. Thus do you walk. Dmite to live a hundred

ISO

SWAMI VIVEKAMANDA’S WORKS

years, have all earthly desires, if you wish, only deify
them, convert them into heaven. Have the desire to live
a long life of helpfulness, of blissfulness and activity on
this earth. Thus working, you will find the way out.
There is no other way. If a man plunges headlong into
foolish luxuries of the world without knowing the truth,
he has missed his footing, he cannot reach the goal. And
if a man curses the world, goes into a forest, mortifies his
flesh, and kills himself little by little by starvation, makes
his heart a barren waste, kills out all feelings, and becomes
harsh, stern, and dried-up, that man also has missed the
way. These are the two extremes, the two mistakes at
either end. Both have lost the way, both have missed
the goal.

So work, says the Vedanta, putting God in every-
thing, and knowing Him to be in everything. Work in-
cessantly, holding life as something deified, as God
Himself, and knowing that this is all we have to do, this
is all we should ask for. God is in everything, where else
shall we go to find Him ? He is already in every work, in
every thought, in every feeling. Thus knowing, we must
work — this is the only way, there is no other. Thus the
effwts of work will not bind us. We have seen how false
desires are the cause of all the misery and evil y/e suffer,
but when they are thus deified, purified, through God,
they bring no evil, they bring no misery. Those who
have not ieamt this secret will have to live in a
demoniacal world until they discover it. Many do not
know what an infinite mine of bliss is in them, around
them, everywhere ; they have not yet discovered it. What
is a demoniacal world.? The Vedanta says, ignorance.

We are dying of thirst sitting on the banks of the
mightiest river. We are dying of hunger sitting near
heaps of food. Here is the blissful universe, yet we do
not find it. We are in it all the time, and we are always
mistaking it. Religion proposes to find this out for us.

GOD IN EVEaYTHING

ISl

The longing for this blissful universe is in all hearts. It
has been the search of all nations* it is the one goal of
religion* and this ideal is expressed in various languages in
different religions. It is only the difference of language
that makes all these apparent divergences. One expresses
a thought in one way* another a little differently* yet per-
haps each is meaning exactly what the other is expressing
in a different language.

More questions arise in connection with this. It is
very easy to talk. From my childhood I have heard of
seeing God everywhere and in everything, and then I can
really enjoy the world* but as soon as I mix with the world*
and get a few blows from it* the idea vanishes. I am walk-
ing in the street thinking that God is in every man* and a
strong man comes along and gives me a push and I fall flat
on the footpath. Then I rise up quickly with clenched fist*
the blood has rushed to my head* and the reflection goes.
Immediately I have become mad. Everything is forgotten ;
instead of encountering God I see the devil. Ever since
we were bom we have been told to see God in all. Every
religion teaches that — see God in everything and every-
where. Do you not remember in the New Testament how
Christ says so ? We have all been taught that ; but it is
when we come to the practical side* that the difficulty
begins. You all remember how in ^sop*s Fables a fine
stag is looking at his form reflected in a lake and is saying
to his young one* “How powerful I* am* look at my
splendid head* look at my limbs* how strong and muscular
they are ; and how swiftly I can run.“ In the meantime
he hears the barking of dogs in the distance, and imme-
diately takes to his heels* and after he has run several
miles* he comes back panting. The young one says*
“You just told me how strong you were* how was it that
when the dog barked* you ran away ?“ “Yes* my son ;
but when the dogs bark all my confidence vanishes.” Such
is the case with us. We think highly of humanity*

152

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

we fed oundves strong and valiant, we make grand
resolves ; but when the "dogs” of trial and temptation
bark, we are like the stag in the fable. Then, if such is the
case, what is the use teaching all these things? There is
the greatest use. The use is this, that perseverance will
finally conquer. Nothing can be done in a day.

“This Self is first to be heard, then to be thought
upon, and then meditated upon.” Everyone can see the
sky, even the very worm crawling upon the earth sees the
blue sky, but how very far away it isl So it is with our
ideal. It is far away, no doubt, but at the same time, we
know that we must have it. We must even have the
highest ideal. Unfortunately in this life, the vast majority
of persons are groping diroug^ this dark life without any
ideal at all. If a man with an ideal makes a thousand
mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes
fifty thousancL Therefore, it is better to have an ideal.
And this ideal we must hear about as much as we can,
till it enters into our hearts, into our brains, into our very
veins, until it tingles in every drop of our blood and
permeates every pore in our body. We must meditate
upon it. “Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth
speaketh," and out of the fullness of the heart the hand
works too.

It is thought which is the propelling force in us. Fill
the mind with the highest thoughts, hear them day after
day, think (hem month after month. Never mind failures ;
they are quite natural, they are the beauty qf life, these
failures. What would life be without them ? It would not
be worth having if it were not for struggles. Where would
be the poetry of life ? Never mind the struggles, the mis-
takes., I never heard a cow tell a lie, but it is only a cow
— never a man. So never mind these failures, these little
backslidings ; hold the ideal a thousand times, and if you
fail a thousand times, make the attempt once more. The
ideal of man is to see God in ev^thing. But if you cannM

COD IN IVERYTHIMC

tee Hha hi evcty^nj^ see Ifim in one thing; in diet thing
which you like best, and then see Him in anothor. So <nt
you can go. Tho'e is infinite life before the soul. Take
your time and you will achieve your end.

"He, the One, who vibrates more quiddy than mind,
who attains to mcue speed than mind can ever do, whom
even the gods reach not, nor thought grasps. He moving,
everything moves. In Him all exists. He is moving. He
is also immovable. He is near and He is far. He is inside
everything. He is outside everything, interpenetrating
everything. Whoever sees in every being that same
Atman, and whoever sees everything in that Atman, he
never goes far from that Atman. ^ When all life and the
whole universe are seen in this Atman, then alone man
has attained the secret. There is no more delusion for
him. Where is any more misery for him who .sees this
Oneness in the universe?”

This is another great theme of the Vedanta, this One-
ness of life, this Oneness of everything. We shall see how
it demonstrates that all our misery comes through igno-
rance, and this ignorance is the idea of manifoldness, this
separation between man and man, between nation and
nation, between earth and moon, between moon and sun.
Out of this idea of separation between atom and atom
comes all misery. But the Vedanta says this separation
does not exist, it is not real. It is merely apparent, on the
surface. In the heart of things there is Unity still. If you
go below the surface, you find that Unity between man
and man, between races and races, high and low, rich and
poor, gods and men, and men and animals. If you go
deep enough, all will be seen as only variations of the
One, and he who has attained to this conception of One-
ness has no more ddusion. What can delude him? He
knows the reality of everything, the secret everything.
Where is there any more misery for him ? What does he
desire? He has traced the reality ot evoTthing to the

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Lord, the Centre, the Unity of everything, and that it
Eternal Existence, Eternal Knowledge, Eternal Bliss.
Neither death nor disease, nor sorrow, nor miaery» nor
discontent is there. All is Perfect Union and Perfect Bliss.
For whom should he mourn then? In* the Reality, there
is no death, there is no misery ; in the Reality, there is no
one to mourn for, no one to be sorry for. He has pene-
trated everything, the Pure One, the Formless, the
Bodiless, the Stainless. He the Knower, He the Great
Poet, the Self-Existent, He who is giving to everyone what
he deserves. They grope in darkness who worship this
ignorant world, the world that is produced out of
ignorance, thinking of it as Existence, and those who live
their whole lives in this world, and never find anything
better or higher, are groping in still greater darkness. But
he who knows the secret of nature, seeing That which is
beyond nature through the help of nature, he crosses death,
and through the help of That which ^ is beyond nature,
he enjoys Eternal Bliss. *"Thou sun, who hast covered
the Truth with thy golden disc, do thou remove the
veil, so that I may see the Truth that is within thee. 1
have known the Truth that is within thee, I have known
what is the real meaning of thy rays and thy glory and
have seen That which shines in thee ; the Truth in thee
T see, and That which is within thee is within me, and
I am That.''

REAUSATION

{Delivered in London, 29th October 1896)

1 will read to you from one of the Upanishads. It is
called the Katha Upanishad. Some of you, perhaps, have
read the translation by Sir Edwin Arnold, called the Secret
of Death. In our last [i.e. a previous] lecture we saw how
the inquiry which started with the origin of the world, and
the creation of the universe, failed to obtain a satisfactory
answer from without, and how it then turned inwards.
This book psychologically takes up that suggestion,
questioning into the internal nature of man. It was first
asked who created the external world, and how it came
into being. Now the question is: What is that in man
which makes him live and move, and what becomes of
that when he dies? The first philosophers studied the
material substance, and tried to reach the ultimate through
that. At the best, they found a personal governor of the
universe, a human being immensely magnified, but yet to
all intents and purposes a human being. But that could
not be the whole of truth ; at best, it could be only partial
truth. We see this universe as human beings, and our
God is our human explanation of the \iniverse.

Suppose a cow were philosophical and had religion,
it would have a cow universe, and a cow solution of the
problem, and it would not be possible that it should see
our God. Suppose cats became philosophers, they would
see a cat universe and have a cat solution of the problem
of the universe, and a cat ruling it. So we see from this
that our explanation of the universe is not the whole of the
solution. Neither does our conception cover the whole of
the universe. It would be a great mistake to accept that

U— 11

156

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

tremendously selfish position which man is apt to take.
Such a solution of the universal problem as we can get
from the outside labours under this difficulty that in the
first place the universe w*e see is our own particular
universe, our own view of the Reality. That Reality we
cannot see through the senses : we cannot comprehend It.
We only know the universe from the point of view
beings with five senses. Suppose we obtain another sense,
the whole universe must change for us. Suppose we had
a magnetic sense, it is quite possible that we might then
find millions and millions of^ forces in existence which we
do not now know, and for which we have no present
sense or feeling. Our senses are limited, very limited
indeed ; and within these limitations exists what we call
our universe ; and our God is the solution of that universe,
but that cannot be the solution of the whole problem.
But man cannot stop there. He is a thinking being and
wants to find a solution which will comprehensively
explain all the universes. He wants to see a world
which is at once the world of men, and of gods, and of all
possible beings, and to find a solution which will explain
all phenomena.

We see, we must first find the universe which includes
all universes ; we must find something which, by itself,
must be the material running through all these various
planes of existence, whether we apprehend it through the
senses or not. If we could possibly find something tvhich
we could know as the common property of the lower as
well as of the higher worlds, then our problem would be
solved. Even if by the sheer force of logic alone we could
understand that there must be one basis of all existence,
then our problem might approach to some sort of solution ;
but this solution certainly cannot be obtained only throi;^
the world we .see and know, because it is only a partial
view of the whole.

Our only hope then lies in penetrating deeper. The

KEAUSATKW

1>7 *

early thinkers discovered that the farther they were from
the centre, the more marked were the variations and
differentiations ; and that the nearer they approached the
centre, the neater they were to unity. The nearer we are
to the centre of a cirde, the nearer we are to the common
ground in which all the radii meet ; and the farther we are
from the centre, the mote divergent is our radial line
from the others. The external world is far away from the
centre, and so there is no common ground in it where
all the phenomena of existence can meet. At best, the
external world is but one part of the whole of phenomena.
There are other parts, the mental, the moral, and the
intellectual — the various planes of existence — and to take
up only one, and find a solution of the whole out of that
one, is simply impossible. We first, therefore, want to find
somewhere a centre firom which, as it were, all. the other
planes of existence start, and standing there we should try
to find a solution. That is the proposition. And where is
that centre? It is within us. The ancient sages penetrated
deeper and deeper until they found that in the innermost
core of the human soul is the centre of the whole universe.
All the planes gravitate towards that one point. That is
the common ground, and standing there alone can we find
a common solution. So the question who made this world
is not very philosophical, nor does its solution amount to
anything.

This the Katha Upanishad speab in very figurative
language. There was, in ancient times, a very rich man,
who made a certain sacrifice which required that he should
give away everything that he had. Now, this man was not
sincere. He wanted to get the fame and glory of having
made the sacrifice, but he was only giving things which
were of no further use to him— old cows, barren, blind,
and lame. He had a boy called Nachiketas. This boy
saw that his father was not doing, what was right, that he
was breaking his vow ; but he did not know what to say

188

SWABa VIVEKANAMIXA'S WORKS

to him. In India, father and mother are living gods to
their children. And so the boy approached the father with
the greatest respect and humbly inquired (tf him, 'Tather,
to whom are you going to give me ? For your sacrifice
requires that everything shall be given away.” The father
was very much vexed at this question and replied, “What
do you mean, boy? A father giving away his own son?”
The boy asked the question a second and a third time,
and then the angry father answered, “Thee I give unto
Death (Yama).” And the story goes on to say that the
boy went to Yama, the god of death. Yama was the first
man who died. He went to heaven and became the
governor of all the Pitris ; all the good people who die, go,
and live with him for a long time. He is a very pure and
holy person, chaste and good, as his name (Yama) implies.

So the boy went to Yama’s world. But even gods
are sometimes not at home, and three days this boy had
to wait there. After the third day Yama returned.
“O learned one,” said Yama, "you have been waiting
here for three days without food, and you are a guest
worthy of respect. Salutation to thee, O Brahmin, and
welfare to mel I am very sorry I was not at home. But
for that I will make amends. Ask three boons, one for
each day." And the boy asked, “My first boon is that my
father’s anger against me may pass away; that he will
be kind to me and recognise me when you allow me to
depart.” Yama granted this fully. The next boon was
that he wanted to know about a certain sacrifice which
took people to heaven. Now we have seen that the oldest
idea which we got in the Samhitft portion of the Vedas was
only about heaven where they had bright bodies and
lived with the fathers. Gradually other ideas came, but
they were not satisfying; there was still need for some-
thing higher. Living in heaven would not be very
different from life in this world. At best, it would only be
a very healthy rich man’s life, with plenty of senseenjoy-

REALISATION

in

menu and a sound body which knows no disease. It
would be this material world, only a little more refined ;
and we have seen the difiSculty that the external material
world can never solve the problem. So no heaven can
solve the problem. If this world cannot solve the prob-
lem, no multiplication of this world can do so, because
we must always remember that matter is only an
infinitesimal part of the phenomena of nature. The vast
part of phenomena which we actually see is not matter.
For instance, in every moment of our life what a great
part is played by thought and feeling, compared with the
material phenomena ouUidel How vast is this internal
world with iu tremendous activity! The sense-phenomena
are very small compared with it. The heaven solution
commits this mistake ; it insists that the whole of phenom-
ena is only in touch, taste, sight, etc. So this idea of
heaven did not give full satisfaction to all. Yet Nachiketas
asks, as the second boon, about some sacrifice through
which people might attain to this heaven. There was an
idea in the Vedas that these sacrifices pleased the gods
and took human beings to heaven.

In studying all religions you will notice the fact that
whatever is old becomes holy. For instance, our fore-
fathers in India used to write on birch bark, but in time
they learnt how to make paper. Yet the birch bark is still
looked ufion as very holy. When the, utensils in which
they used to cook in ancient times were improved upon,
the old ones became holy ; and nowhere is this idea more
kept up than in India. Old methods, which must be nine
or ten thousand years old, as of rubbing two sticks
together to make fire, are still followed. At the time
sacrifice no other method will do. So with the other
branch of the Asiatic Aryans. Their modem descendants
still like to obtain fire from lightning, showing that they
used to get fire in diis way. Even when they learnt other
customs, they kept up the (dd ones, which then became

160

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

holy. So with the Hebrews. They used to write on pardi>
ment. They now write on paper, but parchment is very
holy. So with all nations. Every rite which you now
consider holy was simply an old custom, and the Vedic
sacrifice were of this nature. In course of time, as they
found better methods of life, their ideas were much im-
proved ; still these old forms remained, and from time to
time they were practised and received a holy significance.

Then, a body of men made it their business to
carry on these sacrifices. These were the priests, who
speculated on the sacrifices, and the sacrifices became
everything to them. The gods came to enjoy the fragrance
of the sacrifices, and it was considered that everything in
this world could be got by the power of sacrifices. If
certain oblations were made, certain hymns chanted,
certain peculiar forms of altars made, the gods would
grant everything. So Nachiketas asks by what form of
sacrifice can a man go to heaven. The second boon was
also readily granted by Yama who promised that this
sacrifice should henceforth be named after Nachiketas.

Then the third boon comes, and with that the
Upanishad proper begins. The boy said, “There is this
difficulty: when a man dies some say he is, others that
he is not. Instructed by you I desire to understand this.”
But Yama was frightened. He had been very glad to
grant the other two boons. Now he said, “The gods in
ancient times were puzzled on this point. This subtle law
is not easy to understand. Choose some other boon,

0 Nachiketas, do not press me on this point, release me.”

The boy was determined, and said, "What you have
said is true, O Death, ^at even the gods had doubts on
this point, and it is no easy matter to understand. But

1 cannot obtain another exponent like you and there is no
other boon equal to this.”

Death said, “Ask for sons and gnmdsons who will
live one hundred years, many cattle, elejdiants, gold, and

REAUSATION

161

hosMS. Ask for empire on this earth and live as many
yean as you like. Or choose any other boon which you
think equal to these— -wealth and long life. Or be thou a
king, O Nachiketas, on the wide earth. I will make thee
the enjoyer of all desires. Ask for all those desires which
are diflkult to obtain in the world. These heavenly
maidens with chariots and music, which are not to be
obtained by man, are yours. Let them serve you.
O Nachiketas, but do not question me as to what comes
after death.” v

Nachiketas said, **These are merely things of a day,
O Death, they wear away the eneigy of all the sense*
organs. Even the longest life is very short. These horses
and chariots, dances and songs, may remain with Thee.
Man cannot be satisfied by wealth. Can we retain wealth
when we behold Thee? We shall live only so long as
Thou desirest. Only the boon which I have asked is
chosen by me.”

Yama was pleased with this answer and said, ”Per^
fection is one thing and enjoyment another; these two
having different ends, engage men differently. He who
chooses perfection becomes pure. He who chooses enjoy-
ment misses his true end. Both perfection and enjoyment
present themselves to man ; the wise man having examined
both distinguishes one from the other. He chooses per-
fection as being superior to enjoyment,' but the foolish
man chooses enjoyment for the pleasure of his body.
O Nachiketas, having thought upon the things which are
4Hily apparently desirable, thou hast wisely abandoned
them.” Death then proceeded to teach Nachiketas.

We now get a very developed idea of renunciation
and Vedic morality, that until one has conquered the
desires for enjoyment the truth will not shine in him. So
long as these vain desires of our senses are damouring and
as it were dragging us outwards every moment, making us
daves to everything outdde— to a little colour, a little

102

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

taste, a little touch — ^notwitbstandii^ all pur pretensioiu,
how can the truth express itself in our hearts?

Yama said, "That which is beyond never rises before
the mind of a thoughtless child deluded by the folly of
riches. 'This world exists, the other does not,’ thinking
thus they come again and again under my power. To
understand this truth is very difficult. Many, even hearing
it continually, do not understand it, for the speaker
must be wonderful, so must be the heater. The teacher
must be wonderful, so must be the taught. Neither is
the mind to be disturbed by vain arguments, for it is no
more a question of argument, it is a question of fact.”
We have always heard that every religion insists on our
having faith. We have been taught to believe blindly.
Well, this idea of blind faith is objectionable, no doubt,
but analysing it, we find that behind it is a very great
truth. What it really means is what we read now. The
mind is not to be rufiled by vain arguments, because aigu-
ment will not help us to know God. It is a question of
fact, and not of argument. All argument and reasoning
must be based upon certain perceptions. Without these,
there cannot be any argument. Reasoning is the method
of comparison between certain facts which we have already
perceived. If these perceived facts are not there already,
there cannot be any reasoning. If this is true external
phenomena, why should it not be so of the internal? 'The
chemist takes certain chemicals and certain results are
produced. This is a fact; you see it, sense it, and
make that the basis on whidh to build all your chemical
aiguments. So with the phyncists, so with all other
sciences. All knowledge must stand on perception
certain facts, and upon that we have to build our
reasoning. But, curiously enough the vast majority of
mankind think, especially at the {wesent time, that no such
perception is possible in religion, thsA idigion can only be
apprdiended by vain aiguments. Thorefoie we are ttdd

REALISATION

UNI

not to disturb the mind by vain atguments. Religitm is a
question of fact, not of talk. We have to analyse our
own souls and to find what is there. We have to under-
stand it and to realise what is understood. That is
religion. No amount of talk will make religion. So the
question whether there is a God or not can never be
proved by argument, for the arguments are as much on
one side as on the other. But if there is a God, He is in
our own hearts. Have you ever seen Him? The question
as to whether this world exists or not has not yet been
decided, and the debate between the idealists and the
realists is endless. Yet we know that the world exists,
that it goes on. We only change the meaning of words.
So, with all the questions of life, we must come to facts.
There are certain religious facts which, as in external
science, have to be perceived, and upmi thim religion
will be built. Of course, the extreme claim that you must
believe every dogma of a religion is degrading to the
human mind. The man who asks you to believe every-
thing, degrades himself, and, if you believe, degrades you
too. The sages of the world haye only the right to tdl us
that they have analysed their minds and have found these
facts, and if we do the same we shall also believe, and not
before. That is all that there is in rdigion. But you must
always remember this, that as a matter of fact 99-9 per
cent of those who attack rdigion have never analysed their
minds, have never struggled to get at the facts. So their
arguments do not have any weight against rdigion, any
more than the words of a blind man who cries out, *Tou
are all fools who bdieve in the son,” would affect us.

This is one great idea to learn and to hold on to, this
idea of realisation. This turmoil and fig^t and difference
in religions will oease mily when we understand that
religion is not in books and temples. It is an actual per
ception. Only the nuut who has actually percdved God
and soul has religion. Tha« is no real difference between

164

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

the highest ecdesiattical giant who can talk by the
volume, and the lowest, most ignorant materialist. We
are all atheists ; let us confess it. Mere intdlectual assent
does not make us religious. Take a Christian, or a
Mohammedan, or a follower any other religion in the
world. Any man who truly realised the truth of the
Sermon on the Mount would be perfect, and become a
god immediately. Yet it is said that there are many
millions of Christians in the world. What is meant is that
mankind may at some time try to realise that Sermon.
Not one in twenty millions is a real Christian.

So, in India, there are said to be three hundred
millions of Vedantins. But if there were one in a thousand
who had actually realised religion, this world would toon
be greatly changed. We are all atheists, and yet we try to
fight the man who admits it We are all in the dark ; reli*
gion is to us a mere intellectual assent, a mere talk, a mere
nothing. We often consider a man religious who can talk
well. But this is not religion. "Wonderful methods of
joining words, rhetorical powers, and explaining texts of
the books in various ways — these are only for the enjoy*
ment of the learned, and not religion." Religion comes
when that actual realisation in our own souls begins. That
will be the dawn of religion ; and then alone we shall be
moral. Now we are not much more moral than the
animals. Wo aro only held down by the whips of society.
If society said today, "J will not punish you if you steal",
we should just make a rush for each other’s property. It
is the policeman that makes us moral. It is social opinion
that makes us moral, and really we are little better than
animals. We undentand how mock this is so in the
secret of our own hearts. So let us not be hypocrites.
Let us confess that we are not religious and have no
right to look down on others. We are all brothers,
and we diall be truly moral when we have realised
religkm.

REALISATION

Ml

ff you have seen a certain country, and a man fotoes
you to say that you have not seat it. still in your heart of
hearts you know you have. So, when you see religion
and God in a more intense sense than you see this
external world, nothing will be able to drake your belief.
Then you have real faith. That is what is meant by the
words in your Gospel, “He who has faith even as a grain
of mustard seed.’’ Then you will know the Truth because
you have become the Truth.

This is the watchword of the Vedanta — ^realise religion,
no talking will do. But it is done with great difficulty. He
has hidden Himsdf inside the atom, this Ancient One who
resides in the inmost recess of every human heart. ’The
sages realised Him through the power of introspection,
and got beyond both joy and misery, beyond what we call
virtue and vice, beyond good and bad deeds, beyond
being and non-being ; he who has seen Him has seen the
Reality. But what then about heaven? It was the idea
of happiness minus unhappiness. That is to say, what we
want is the joys of this life minus its sorrows. That is
a very good idea, no doubt ; it comes naturally ; but it is
a mistake throughout, because there is no such thing u
absolute good, nor any sudt thing as absolute evil.

You have all heard of that rich man in Rome who
learnt one day that he had only about a million pounds of
bis property left ; he said, "What shalh I do tomorrow?"
and forthwith committed suicide. A million pounds was
poverty to him. What is joy, and what is sorrow? It is a
vanishing quantity, continually vanishing. When I was a
dhild I thought if 1 could be a cabman, it would be the
very acme of happiness for me to drive about. 1 do not
think so now. To what joy will you cling? This is the
one point we must sdl try to undnstand, and it is tme oE
the last supostitions to leave ns. Everyone’s idea of
pleasure is different. 1 have seen a man who is not happy
unless he swallows a lump of t^um every day. He may

166

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

dream of a heaven where the land is made of opium. That
would be a very bad heaven for me. Again and again in
Arabian poetry we read of heaven with beautiful gardens,
through which rivers run. I lived much of my life in a
country where there is too much water ; many villages are
flooded and thousands of lives are sacrificed every year.
So, my heaven would not have gardens through which
rivers flow ; I would have a land where very little rain
falls. Our pleastures are always changing. If a young man
dreams of heaven, he dreams of a heaven where he will
have a beautiful wife. When that same man becomes old
he does not want a wife. It is our necessities which make
our heaven, and the heaven changes with the change of
our necessities. If we had a heaven like that desired by
those to* whom sense-enjoyment is the very end of exist-
ence, then we would not prt^ess. That would be the
most terrible curse we could pronounce on the soul. Is
this all we can come to? A little weeping and dandng,
and then to die like a dog I What a curse you pronounce
on the head of humanity when you long for these things!
That is what you do when you cry after the joys of this
world, for you do not know what true joy is. What
philosophy insists on is not to give up joys, but to know
what joy really is. The Norwegian heaven is a tremen-
dous fighting place where they all sit before Odin ; they
have a wil^ boar hunt, and then they go to war and slash
each other to pieces. But in some way or other, after a
few hours of such fighting, the wounds are all healed up,
and they go into a hall where the boar has been roasted,
and have a carousal. And then the wild boar takes form
again, ready to be hunted the next day. That is much the
same thing as our heaven, not a whit worsfc, only our ideas
may be a little more refined. We want to hunt wild boars,
and get to a place where all enjoyments will continue, just
as the Norwegian ims^nes that the wild boar is hunted
and eaten every day, and recovers, the next day.

REALISATION

le?

Now, philosophy insists that there is a joy which is
abscdute, which never changes. That joy cannot be the
joys and pleasures we have in this life, and yet Vedanta
shows that everything that is joyful in this life is but a
particle of that real joy, because that is the only joy there
is. Every moment really we are enjoying the absolute
bliss, though covered up, misunderstood, and caricatured.
Wherever there is any blessing, blissfulness, or joy, even
the joy of the thief in stealing, it is that absolute bliss
coming out, only it has become obscured, muddled up, as
it were, with all sorts of extraneous conditions, and mis-
understood. But to understand that, we have to go through
the negation, and then the positive side will begin. We
have to give up ignorance and all that is false, and then
truth will begin to reveal itself to us. When we have
grasped the truth, things which we gave up at fiii^t will take
new shape and form, will appear to us in a new light, and
become deified. They will have become sublimated, and
then we shall understand them in their true light. But to
understand them, we have first to get a glimpse of truth ;
we must give them up at first, and then we get them back
again, deified. We have to give up all our miseries and
sorrows, all our little joys.

''That which all the Vedas declare, which is proclaimed
by all penances, seeking which men lead lives of continence,
I will tell you in one word — ^it is 'Om'." • You will find this
word "Om" praised very much in the Vedas, and it is held
to be very sacred.

Now Yama answers the question: "What becomes of
a man when the body dies ?" "This Wise One never dies,
is never bom. It arises from nothing, and nothing arises
from It. Unborn, Eternal, Everlasting, this Ancient One
can never be destroyed with the destruction of the body.
If the dayer thinks he can slay, or if the slain thinks he is
dain, they both do not know the truth, for the Self neither
slays nor is slain." A most tremendous position. I

I«8 SWAMI VIVSKANAM1>A*S WORIS

should like to draw your attention to the adjective in the
first line, which is ‘Vise”. As we proceed we shall find
that the ideal of the Vedanta is that all wisdom and all
purity are in the soul already, dimly expressed or better
expressed — that is all the difference. The difference
between man and man, and all things in the whole crea-
tion, is not in kind but only in d^ee. The background,
the reality, of everyone is that same Eternal, Ever Blessed.
Ever Pure, and Ever Perfect One. It is the Atman, the
Soul, in the saint and the sinner, in the happy and the
miserable, in the beautiful and the ugly, in men and in
animals ; it is the same throughout. It is the shining One.
The difference is caused by the power of expr^on. In
some It is expressed more, in others less, but this difference
of expression has no effect upon the Atman. If in their
dress one man shows more of his body than another, it
does not make any difference in their bodies ; the differ-
ence is in their ^ss. We had better remember here
that throughout the Vedanta philosophy, there is no such
thing as good and bad, they are not two different things ;
the same thing is good or bad, and the difference is only
in degree. The very thing I call pleasurable today, to-
morrow under better circumstances I may call pain. The
fire that warms us can also consume us ; it is not the fault
of the fire. Thus, the Soul being pure and perfect, the
man who does evil is giving the lie unto himself, he does
not know the nature of himself. Even in the murderer
the pure Soul is there ; It dies not. It was his mistake ;
he could not manifest It ; he had covered It up. Nor in
the man who thinks that he is killed is the Soul kUled ; It
is eternal. It can never be killed, never destroyed. "In-
finitely smaller than the smallest, infinitely larger than the
latgest, this Lord of all is present in the depths of every
human heart. The sinless, bereft of all misery, see Him
through the mercy of the Lord ; the Bodiless, yet dwdling
in the body ; the Spaceless, yet teeming to occupy jqpace;

lUBAUSATION

lfl»

Infinite, Omnipreaent: knowing such to be the Soul, die
sages never are misoable.”

“This Atman is not to be realised by the power (rf
speech, nor by a vast intellect, nor by the study of the
Vedas." This is a very bold utterance. As I told you
before, the sages were very bold thinken, and never stop-
ped at anything. You will remember that in India these
Vedas are regarded in a much higher light than even the
Christians regard their Bible. Your idea of revelation is
that a man was inspired by God ; but in India the idea is
that things exist because they are in the Vedas. In and
through the Vedas the whole creation has come. All that
is called knowledge is in the Vedas. Every word is sacred
and eternal, eternal as the soul, without beginning and
without end. The whole of the Creator’s mind is in this
book, as it were. That is the light in which the Vedas are
held. Why is this thing moral ? Because the Vedas say so.
Why is that thing immoral ? Because the Vedas say so. In
spite of that, look at the boldness of these sages who
proclaimed that the truth is not to be found by much study
of the Vedas. “With whom the Lord is pleased, to that
man He expresses Himself.” But then, the objection may
be advanced that this is something like partisanship. But
Yama explains, "Those who are evil-doen, whose minds are
not peaceful, can never see the Light. It is to those who
are true in heart, pure in deed, whose senses are controlled,
that this Self manifests Itself.” *

Here is a beautiful figure. Picture the Self to be the
rider and this body the chariot, the intdlect to be the
charioteer, mind the reins, and the senses the horses. He
whose horses are well broken, and whose reins are strong
and kept well in the hands of the charioteer (the intellect)
reaches the goal which is the state Him, the Omnipres-
ent. But the man whose horses (the senses) are not con-
trolled, nor the reins (the min<j^ well managed, goes to
destruction. This Atman in all beings does not manifest

170 SWAMI VIVEKANAMDA'S WORKS

Himself to the eyes or the senses, but those whose minds
have become purified and refined realise Him. Beyond
all sound, all sight, beyond form, absolute, beyond all
taste and touch, infinite, without beginning and without
end, even beyond nature, the Unchangeable; he who
realises Him, frees himself from the jaws of death. But
it is very difficult. It is, as it were, walking on the edge of
a razor ; the way is long and perilous, but struggle on, do
not despair. Awake, arise, and stop not till the goal is
reached.

The one central idea throughout all the Upanishads is
that of realisation. A great many questions will arise from
time to time, and especially to the modem man. There
will be the question of utility, there will be Various other
questions, but in all we shall find that we are prompted
by our past associations. It is association of ideas that
has such a tremendous power over our minds. To those
who from childhood have always heard of a Personal God
and the personality of the mind, these ideas will of
course appear very stern and harsh, but if they listen to
them and think over them, they will become part of their
lives and will no longer frighten them. The great question
that generally arises is the utility of philosophy. To that
there can be only one answer: if on the utilitarian
ground it is good for men to seek for pleasure, why should
not those whose pleasure is in religious speculation seek
for that? Because sense-enjoyments please many, they
seek for them, but there may be others whom they do not
please, who want higher enjoyment. The dog’s pleasure
is only in eating and drinking. The dog cannot under>
stand the pleasure of the scientist who gives up everything;
and, perhaps; dwells on the top of a mountain to observe
the position of certain stars. The dogs may smile at him
and think he is a madman. Perhaps this poor sdentist
never had money enough to marry even, and lives very
simply. May be, the dog laughs at him. But the scientist

keausahon

171

Mya, "My dear do^ your {deasure is only in the senses
which you enjoy, and you know nothing beyond ; but for
me this is the most enjoyable life, and if you have the right
to seek your pleasure in your own way, so have 1 in
mine." The mistake is that we want to tie the whole world
down to our own plane of thought and to make our mind
the measture of the whole universe. To you, the did sense*
things are, perhaps, the greatest pleasure, but it is not
necessary that my pleasure should be the same, and when
you insist upon that, I differ from you. That is the differ*
ence between the worldly utilitarian and the religious man.
The first man says, "See how happy I am. I get money, but
do not bother my head about religion. It is too unsearch*
able, and I am happy without it." So far, so good ; good
for all utilitarians. But this world is terrible. If a man gets
happiness in any way excepting by injuring his fellow*
beings, godspeed him ; but when this man comes to me
and says, "You too must do these things, you will be a
fool if you do not," I say, "You are wrong, because the
very things, which are pleasurable to you, have not the
dightest attraction for me. If I had to go after a few
handfuls of gold, my life would not be worUt living! 1
should die." That is the answer the religious man would
make. The fact is that rdigion is possible only for those
who have finished with these lower things. We must have
our own experiences, must have our fu4 run. It is only
when we have finished this run diat the other world opens.

The enjoyments of the senses sometimes assume
another phase which is dangerous and tempting. You will
always hear the idea — ^in very old times, in every religion
— that a time will come when all the miseries of life will
cease, and only its joys and pleasures will remain, and this
earth will become a heaven. That I do not believe. This
earth will sdways remain this same world. It is a most
terrible thing to say, yet I do not see my way out of it.
Hie misery in the world is like chronic rheumatism in the
II*-12

172

SWAMl VIVUANANDlA’S WORIS

body ; drive it from one part and it goes to smodier, drive
it from there and you will fed it amneidieie dse. What*
ever you do, it is still there. In oMen times pet^ lived in
frwests, and ate each other ; in modem times they do not
eat each other’s flesh, but they dieat one another. 'Wlude
countries and cities are ruined by cbeatii^. That does not
show much progress. I do not see that what you call
progress in the world is other than the multiplication ci
desires. If one thing is obvious to me it is this that
desires bring all misery ; it is the state of the beggar, who
is always begging for something, and unable to see any*
thing without the wish to possess it, is always longing,
longing for more. If the power to satisfy our desires is
increased in arithmetical progression, the power^of desire
is increased in geometrical progression. The sum total of
happiness and misery in this world is at least the same
throughout. If a wave rises in the ocean it makes a
hollow somewhere. If happiness comes to one man,
unhappiness comes to another or, perhaps, to some animal.
Men are increasing in numbers and some animals are
decreasing ; we are killing them off, and taking their land ;
we are taking all means of sustenance from them. How
can we say, then, that happiness is increasing? The strong
race eats up the weaker, but do you think that the strong
race will be very happy ? No*; they will begin to kill
other. I ^o not see on practical grounds how this world
can become a heaven. Facts are t^inst it. On theoretical
grounds also, I see it cannot be.

Perfection is always infinite. We are this infinite
already, and we are trying to manifest that infinity. You
and I, and all beings, are tryii^ to manifest it. So far it
is all right. But from this fact some Germsm {diilosophas
have started a peculiar theory — thm this manflfestatum will
become hi^er and higgler until we attain perfect mani*
festation, until we have becxxme perfect brings. Vi^t is
meant by perfect manifestation? Perfection memu infeiity.

REAUSAnON

17t

and manitetation meam limit, and ao it meua that
we dudl beoome unlunited Umiteda, wlddi ia idf-C(Mitra>
dictocy. Sudi a themy may pleaae duldren ; but it ia
poiaoning their minda with liea. and ia ^ery bad for
religion. But we know that thia world ia a degradation, that
man ia a degradation of God, and that Adam fell. There ia
no religion today that doea not teach that man ia a degra-
dation. We have been degraded down to the animal, and
are now going up, to emerge out of thia bondage. But we
ahall never be able entirdy to manifeat the Infinite here.
We shall struggle hard, but there will come a time when
we shall find that it' is impossible to be perfect here, while
we are bound by the senses. And then the march bach to
our original state of Infinity will be sounded.

This is renunciation. We shall have to get out of the
difficulty by reversing the prtxxss by which we got in,
and then morality and diarity will begin. What is the
watchword of all ethical codes ? "Not I, but thou", and
this "1” is the outccnne of the Infinite behind, trying to
manifest Itsdf on the outside wcwld. This little "1" is the
result, and it will have to go back and join the Infinite, its
own nature. Every time you say, "Not I, my brother, but
thou", you are trying to go back, and every time you say
"I, and not them", you take the fdse step of trying to
manifest the Infinite through the sense-world. That brings
struggles and evils into the world, but softer a time renun-
ciatfon must come, eternal renunciation. The litde "I” is
dead and gone. Why care so much for this little life?
All these vain desires of living and enjoying this life, here
or in s(»ne other place, bring death.

If we are developed from animals, the animals also
may be degraded men. How do you know it is not so?
You have seen that the proof erf evolution is singly this:
jrou find a series of bodies fircmi the lowest to the higliest
rising in a gradually ascending scale. But from that how
can you insist that it is always from the lower upwards.

174

SWAMl V1V£EANANDA*S WORKS

and never from the higher downwards ? The argument
applies both ways, and if anything is true, I believe it is
that the series is repeating itself in going up and down.
How can you have evolution without involution ? Our
struggle for the higher life shows that we have been
degraded from a high state. It must be so, only it may
vary as to details. I always ding to the idea set forth with
one voice by Christ, Buddha, and the Vedanta, that we
must all come to perfection in time, but only by giving
up this imperfection. This world is nothing. It is at best
only a hideous caricature, a shadow of the Reality. We
must go to the Reality. Renunciation will take us to It.
Renunciation is the very basis of our true life ; every
moment of goodness and real life that we enjoy is when
we do not think of ourselves. This little separate self
must die. Then we shall find that we are in the Real, and
that Reality is God, and He is our own true nature, and
He is always in us and with us. Let us live in Him and
stand in Him. It is the only joyful state of existence.
Life on the plane of the Spirit is the only life, and let us
all try to attain to this realisation.

UNITY IN DIVERSITY

{Delivered in London, 3rd November 189S)

“The Self-existent One projected the senses outwards
and, therefore, a man looks outward, not within himself;
A certain wise one, desiring immortality, with inverted
senses, perceived the Self within.’* As 1 have already said,
the first inquiry that we find in the Vedas was concerning
outward things, and then a new idea came that the reality
of things is not to be found in the external world ; not by
looking outwards, but by turning the eyes, as it is literally
expressed, inwards. And the word used for the Soul is
very significant: it is He who has gone inward/ the inner-
most reality of our being, the heart centre, the core, from
which, as it were, everything comes out ; the central sun
of which the mind, the body, the sense-organs, and every-
thing else we have are but rays going outwards. ’’Men
of childish intellect, ignorant persons, run after desires
which are external, and enter the trap of far-reaching
death, but the wise, understanding immortality, never seek
for the Eternal in this life of finite things.” The same
idea is here made clear that in this external world, which
is full of finite things, it is impossible tp see and find the
Infinite. The Infinite must be sought in that alone which
is infinite, and the only thing infinite about us is that which
is within us, our own soul. Neither the body, nor the mind,
not even our thoughts, nor the world we see around us,
are infinite. The Seer, He to whom they all belong, the
Soul of man. He who is awake in the internal man, alone
is infinite, and to seek for the Infinite Cause of this whole
universe we must go there. In the Infinite Soul alone we
can find it. “What is here is there too, and what is there is
here also. He who sees the manifold goes from death to

m

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

death." We have seen how at fint there was the dedre to
go to heaven. When these ancient Aryans became dissatis>
fied with the world around them, Uiey naturally thoiq;ht
that after death they would go to some place where there
would be all happiness without any misery; these places
they multiplied and called Svaigas — ^the word may be
translated as heavens— where there would be joy for ever,
the body would become peifea, and also the mind, and
there they would live with their forefathers. But as soon as
{diilosophy came, men found that this was impossible and
absurd. The vay idea of an infinite in place would be a
contradiction in terms, as a place must begin and continue
in time. Therefore they had to give up that idea. They
found out that the gods who lived in these heavens had
once been human beings on earth, who throu^ their good
works had become gods, and the godhoods, as they
call them, were different states, di&rent positions ; none
of the gods spoken of in the Vedas are permanent
individuals.

For instance, Indra and Varuna are not the names of
certain persons, but the names of positions as govemon
and so on. The Indra who had lived before is not the same
person as the Indra of the present day; he has passed
away, and another man from earth has filled his place. So
with all the other gods. These are certain positions, which
are filled successively by hunuui souls who have raised
themselves to the condition of gods, and yet even they die.
In the old Rig-Veda we find the word "immortality" used
with regard to these gods, but later on it is dn^ped
entirely, for they found that immortality which is beyond
time and space cannot be spoken of with rqgard to any
physical fonn, however subtle it may be. However fine it
may be, it must have a beginning in time and space, for
the necessary factors that enter into the makeup of form
are in space. Try to think of a form without space:
it is impossible. Space is <me of the materiab, as it were.

in

msnwvmmm*

wliicii aiMi» 19 Hw fytoh and tUta it condnudly duunging
%»aoe and time a» in MIyd, and this idea is ezprened in
the line— *'Wfam is bese, that is there too." If there are
diese gods, Aey must be bound by the same laws that
aj>ply here, ttd all laws invtdve destruction and renewal
again and again. These laws are moulding matter into
different forms, and cradling them out again. Everything
bom must die ; and so, if there are heavens, the same laws
must hold good there.

In this world we find that all happiness is followed by
misery as its shadow. Life has its shadow, death. They
must go together, because they are not contradictory, not
two separate existences, but diifoent manifestations the
same unit, life and death, sorrow and happiness, good and
evil. The dualistic conception that good and evil are two
separate entities, and that they are both going on eternally,
is absurd on the face of it. They are the diverse mani-
festations of one and the same foct, one time appearing as
bad, and at another time as good. The difference does not
exist in kind, but only in dq;ree. They differ from each
other in degree of intensity. We find as a fact that the
same nerve systems carry good and bad sensations alike,
and when the nerves are injured, neither sensation comes
to us. If a certain nerve is paralysed, we do not get the
pleasurable feelings that used to come along that wire ; and
at the same time we do not get the painful feelings
either. They are never two, but the same. Again, the
same thing {uoduces pleasure and pain at different times
of life. The same phenomenon will produce pleasure in
one, and pain in another. The eating of meat produces
pleasure to a man, but pain to the animal which is eaten.
There has nevtt been anything which gives pleasure to all
alike. Some are pleased, others displeased. So on it will
go. Therefore, this duality of existence is denied. And
what follows ? I tcdd you in my last lecture that we can
never have uUimatdy everything good on this earth and

178

SWAMI VIVEXANANDA'S WORKS

nothing bad. It may have disappointed and frig^toied
some of you, but I cannot help it, and I am open to con-
viction when 1 am shown to the contrary ; but until that
can be proved to me, and I can find that it is true,
cannot say so.

The general argument against my statement, and
apparently a very convincing one, is this that in the Course
o( evolution, all that is evil in what we see around us is
gradually being eliminated, and the result is that if this
elimination continues for millions of years, a time will
come when all the evil will have been extirpated, and the
good alone will remain. This is apparently a very sound
argument. Would to God it were true I But there is a
fallacy in it, and it is this that it takes for granted that
both good and evil are things that are eternally fixed. It
takes for granted that there is a definite mass of evil,
which may be represented by a hundred, and likewise
of good, and that this mass of evil is being diminished
every day, leaving only the good. But is it so? The
history of the world shows that evil is a continuously
increasing quantity, as well as good. Take the lowest
man; he lives in the forest. His sense of enjoyment is
very small, and so also is his power to suffer. His misery
is entirely on the sense-plane. If he does not get plenty
food, he is miserable; but pve him plenty of food and
freedom to rove and to hunt, and he is perfectly happy.
His happiness consists only in the senses, and so does
his misery' also. But if that man increases in knowledge,
his happiness will increase, the intellect will open to
him, and his sense-enjoyment will evolve into intellectual
enjoyment. He will feel pleasure in reading a beautiful
poem, and a mathematical problem will be of absorbing
interest to him. But, with these, the finer nerves will
become more and more susceptible to miseries of mental
pain, of which the savage does not think. Take a very
simple illustration. In Tibet there is no marriage* uid

UNTTY IN DIVERSITY

179

tiiere is no jealousy, yet we know that marriage is a
much higher state. The Tibetans have not known the
wonderful enjoyment, the blessing of chastity, the happi-
ness of having a chaste, virtuous wife, or a chaste, virtuous
husband. These people cannot feel that. And similarly
they do not feel the intense jealousy of the chaste wife or
husband, or the misery caused by unfaithfulness on either
side, with all the heart-burnings and sorrows which be-
lievers in chastity experience. On one side, the latter gain
happiness, but on the other, they suffer misery too.

Take your country which is the richest in the world,
and which is more luxurious than any other, and see how
intense is the misery, how many more lunatics you have,
compared with other races, only because the desires are o
keen. A man must keep up a high standard of living, and
the amount of money he spends in one year would be a
fortune to a man in India. You cannot preach to him of
simple living because society demands so much of him*
The wheel of society is rolling on ; it stops not for the
widow's tears or the orphans* wails. This is the state of
things everywhere. Your sense of enjoyment is developed,
your society is very much more beautiful than tome
others. You have so many more things to enjoy. But
those who have fewer have much less misery. You can
argue thus throughout, the higher the ideal you have in the
brain, the greater is your enjoyment, and the more pro-
found your misery. One is like the shadow of the odier.
That the evils are being eliminated miy be true, but if so,
the good also must be dying out. But are not evils multi-
plying fast, and good diminishing, if 1 may so put it ? If
good increases in arithmetical progression, evil increase
in geometrical progression. And this is Maya. This is
neither optimism nor pessimism. Vedanta does not take
the position that this world is only a miseraMe one.
That would be untrue. At the same time, it is a mistake
to say that this world is full happiness and blessings.

fRUtrlehiiR i*ubhci

180

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

So it is uselen to tell diildren that this worM is food*
all flowers, all niilk and honey. That is iriiat we have
all dreamt. At the same time it is erroneo u s to tUiik*
because tme man has suffered more than another, that
all is evil. It is this duality, this jflay of good and evil
that makes our world of experiences. At the same time
the Vedanta says, "Do not think that good and evil are
two, are two separate essences, for they are one and the
same thing, appearing in different degrees and in differmit
guises and producing differences of feeling in the same
mind." So, the fint thought of the Vedanta is the finding of
unity in the external ; the One Existence manifesting Itself,
however different It may appear in manifestation. Think
of the old crude theory of the Persians — two gods creating
this world, the good god doing everything that is good*
and the bad one, everything bad. On the very face of it,
you see the absurdity, for if it be carried out, every law of
nature must have two parts, one of which is manipulated
by one god, and then he goes away and the other god
manipulates the other part. There the difficulty comes
that both are working in the same world, and these two
gods keep themselves in harmony by injuring one portion
and doing good to another. This is a crude case, of
course, the crudest way of expressing the duality of exist*
ence. But, take the more advanced, the more abstract
theory that this world is pardy good and partly bad. Tl^is
also is absurd, arguing from the same standpmnt. It is
the law 6f unity that gives us our food, and it is the
same law that kills many through accidents or
misadventure.

We find, then, that this world is neither c^timistic nor
pessimistic ; it is a mixture of both, and as we go on we
shall find that the whole blame is taken away firmn smture
and put upon our own shoulders. At die same dme the
Vedanta shows the way out, but not by denial of evil, be*
cause it analyses boldlv the faa as it is and does not sedli

UNITY IN DtVERSFTV Ml

to oonceal anything. It It not hopeless ; it is not agnostic.
It finds out a len^dy, but it wants to place that lemedy
<m adamantine foundations; not by shutting the chOd’s
mouth and Minding its eyes with something which is
untnie, and which the child will find out in a few days. 1
remember when 1 was young, a young man’s father died
and left him poorly off, with a large family to support, and
he found that his father’s friends were unwilling to help
him. He had a conversation with a clergyman who
tiered this consolation, “Oh, it it all good, all is sent for
our good.’’ That is the old method of trying to put a piece
of gold leaf on an old sore. It is a confession of weak-
ness, of absurdity. The young man went away, and six
months afterwards a son was born to the clergyman, tmd
he gave a thanksgiving party to which the young man was
invited. The clergyman prayed, “Thank God for His
mercies.’’ And the young man stood up and said, “Stop,
this is all misery." The clergyman ask^, “Why?”
“Because when my father died you said it was good,
though apparently evil; so now, this is apparently good,
but really evil.” Is this the way to cure the misery of the
world? Be good and have mercy on those who suffer.
Do not try to patch it up, nothing will cure this world ;
go beyond it.

This is a world of good and evil. Wherever there is
good, evil^ follows, but beyond and bdtind all these mani-
festations, all these contradictions, the Vedanta finds out
that Unity. It says, “Give up whatsis evil and give up
what is good.’’ What remains then? Behind good and
evil stands something which is yours, the real you, beyond
every evil, and beyohd every good too, and it is that which
is manifesting itself as good and bad. Know that first, and
then and then alone you will be a true optimist, and not
before ; for then you will be able to ccmtrol everything.
ContrM these manifestations and you will be at liberty to
manifest the real “you". First be master of yourself, stand

182

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

up and be free, go beyond the pale of these laws, for thcK
laws do not absolutdy govern you, th^ are only part of
your being. First find out that yon are not the ^ve of
nature, never were and never will be ; that this nature,
infinite as you may think it, is only finite, a drop in the
ocean, and your Soul is the ocean ; you are beyond the
stars, the sun, and the moon. They are like mere bubbles
compared with your infinite being. Know that, and you
will control both good and evil. Then 'alone the whole
vision will change and you will stand up and say, “How
beautiful is good and how wonderful is evil!”

That is what the Vedanta teaches. It does not pro-
pose any slipshod remedy by covering wounds with gold
leaf and the more the wound festers, putting on more gold
leaf. This life is a hard fact ; work your way through it
boldly, though it may be adamantine ; no matter, the soul
is stronger. It lays no responsibility on little gods ; for
you are the makers of your own fortunes. You make
yourselves suffer, you make good and evil, and it is you
who put your hands before your eyes and say it is dark.
Take your hands away and see the light; you are efful-
gent, you are perfect already, from the very beginning.
We now understand the verse: "He goes frcnn death
to death who sees the many here.” See that One smd
be Me.

How are we to see it? This mind, so deluded, so
weak, so easily led, even this mind can be strong and may
catch a glimpse of that knowledge, that Oneness, which
saves us from dying again and again. As rain falling upon
a mountain flows in various streams down the sides of the
mountain, so all the energies which you see here are from
that one Unit. It has become manifold falling upon Maya.
Do not run after’the manifold ; go towards the One. "He
is in all that moves ; He is in all that is pure ; He fills the
universe; He is in the sacrifice; He is the guest in the
house ; He is in man, in water, in animals, in truth ; He is

UNTTY IM DIVEKSm 181

the Great One. As fire cmning into this world is manifesting
itself in various forms, even so, that one Soul of the
universe is manifesting Himself in all these various forms
-As air coming into this universe manifests itself in various
forms, even so, the One Soul of all souls, of all beings, is
manifesting Himself in all forms.” This is true for you
when you have understood this Unity, and not before.
Then is all optimism, because He is seen everywhere. The
question is that if all tfau be true that that Pure One — the
Self, the Infinite — has entered all this, how is it that He
suffers, how is it that He becomes miserable, impure? He
does not, says the Upanishad. "As the sun is the cause
of the eyesight of every being, yet is not made defective
by the defect in any eye, even so the Self of all is not
affected by the miseries of the body, or by any misery that
is around you." 1 may have smne disease and see every*
thing yellow, but the sun is not affected by it, "He is the
One, the Creator of all, the Ruler of all, the Internal Soul
of every being — ^He who makes His Oneness manifold.
Thus sages who realise Him as the Soul of their souls, unto
them belongs eternal peace ; unto none else, unto none
else. He who in this world of evanescence finds Him who
never changes, he who in this universe of death finds that
One Life, he who in this manifold finds that Oneness, and
all those who realise Him as the Soul of their souls, to
them belongs eternal peace; unto none else, unto none
else. Where to find Him in the external world, where to
find Him in the suns, and moons, an^ stars? There the
sun cannot illumine, nor the moon, nor the stars, the flash
of lightning cannot illumine the jflace ; what to speak of
this mortal fire? He shining, everything else shines. It is
His light thafi they have borrowed, and He is shining
through them." Here is another beautiful simile. Those
of you who have been in India and have seen how the
banyan tree comes frmn one root and spreads itself far
around, will understand this. He is that banyan tree ; He

184

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

is the root of all and has branched out until He has become
this universe, and however far He extends, every one ot
these trunks and branches is connected.

Various heavens are spoken of in the Brflhmana pot-
tions of the Vedas, but the philosophical teaching ot the
Upanishads gives up the idea of going to heaven. Hairi-
ness is not in this heaven or in that heaven, it is in
soul ; places do not signify anything. Here is another
passage which shows the different states ot realisation.
“In the heaven of the forefathers, as a man sees things in
a dream, so the Real Truth is seen.” As in dreams we see
things hazy and not so distinct, so we see the Reality
there. There is another heaven called the Gandharva, in
which it is still less dear ; as a man sees his own reflection
in the water, so is the Reality seen there. The highest
heaven, of which the Hindus conceive is called the
Brahmaloka ; and in this, the Truth is seen much more
dearly, like light and shade, but not yet quite distinctly.
But as a man sees his own face in a mirror, perfect,
distinct, and dear, so is the Truth shining in the soul of
man. The highest heaven, therefore, is in our own souls ;
the greatest temple of worship is the human soul, greater
than all heavens, says the Vedanta; for in no heaven
anywhere, can we understand the reality as distinctly and
dearly as in this life, in our own soul. Changing places
does not help one much. I thought while I was in India
that the ^ive would give me dearer vision. I found it
was not so. Then I thought the fmest would do so, then,
Varanasi. But the same difficulty existed everywhere,
because we make our own worlds. If I am evil, the whole
wmld is evil to me. That is what the Upanishad says.
And the same thing applies to all worlds. If I die and
go to heaven, 1 should find the same, for until I am pure
it is no use g^ing to caves, or forests, or to Varanasi, or
to heaven, and if I have poliriied my mimHr, it does not
matter whoe I live, I get the Reality just as It is.

UNITY m mvatsm

m

So it is useless, running hither and thither, and spending
energy in vain, which should be spent only in polishing
the mirror. The same idea is expressed again: **None
siees Him, none sees His form with the eyes. It is in
the mind, in the pure mind, that He is seen, and thus
immortality is gained.’*

Those who were at the summer lectures on R&ja-Yoga
will be interested to know that what was taught then was
a different kind of Yoga, llie Yoga which we are now
considering consists chiefly in controlling the senses.
When the senses are held as slaves by the human soul,
when they can no longer disturb the mind, then the
Yogi has reached the goal. ''When all vain desires of the
heart have been given up, then this very mortal becomes
immortal, then he becomes one with God even here.
When all the knots of the heart are cut asunder, then,
the mortal becomes immortal, and he enjoys Brahman
here.” Here, on this earth, nowhere else.

A few words ought to be said here. You will gener-
ally hear that this Vedanta, this philosophy and other
Eastern systems, look only to something beyond, letting
go the enjoyments and struggle of this life. This idea is
entirely wrong. It is rnily ignorant people who do not
know anything of Eastern thought, and never had brain
enou|^ to understand anything its real teaching, that tell
you so. On the contrary, we read in our scriptures that
our philosophers do not want to go tp other worlds, but
depredate them as places where people weep and laugh
for a little while only, and then die. As long as we are
.weak we shall have to go through these experiences ; but
whatever is true, is here, and that is the human soul. And
this also is insisted upon, that by committing suicide, we
cannot escape the inedtable ; we cannot evade it. But the
right path is hard to find. The Hindu is just as practical
as the Western, only we differ in our views of life. The
one says, build a gocal house, kt os have good dothes and

FubUo UD»

180

$WAM1 VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

food, intellectual culture, and to on, fmr tbit ii the Whole
of life; and in that he is immensely practical. Bttt the
Hindu says, true knowledge of the world means knowl-
edge of the soul, metaphysics ; and he wants to enjoy that
life. In America there was a great agnostic, a very noble
man, a very good man, and a very fine speaker. He
lectured on religion, which he said was of no use; why
bother .our heads about other worlds? He employed this
simile we have an orange here, and we want to squeeze
all the juice out of it. I met him once and said, "1 agree
with you entirely. I have some fruit, and I too want to
squeeze out the juice. Our difference lies in the choice of
the fruit. You want an orange, and I prefer a mango.
You think it is enough to live here and eat and drink and
have a little scientific knowledge ; but you have no right to
say that that will suit all tastes. Such a conception is
nothing to me. If I had only to learn how an apple foils
to the ground, or how an electric current shakes my
nerves, I would commit suicide. I want to understand
the heart of things, the very kernel itsdf. Your study is
the manifestation of life, mine is the life itself. My philos-
ophy says you must know that and drive out from your
mind all thoughts of heaven and hell and all other super-
stitions, even Aough they exist in the same sense that this
world exists. I must know the heart of this life, its very
essence, what it is, not only how it wwks and what are
its manifestations. I wwt the why of everything, I leave
the how to children. As one of your countrymen said,
‘While I am smoking a cigarette, if I were to write a
book, it would be the science eff the c^arette.’ It is good
and great to be scientific God bless them in their search ;
but when a man says that is all, he is talking foolishly,
not caring to know the raison d’itre oi life, never studying
existence itself. 1 may argue that all your knowlei%e is
nonsense, without a basis. You are studying the mani-
festations of life, and when I ask ymi what life is, you say

UNmr IN DIVERSITY

you do not know. You are wdcome to your study, but
leave me to nine."

I am practkal, very practical, in my own way. So
your idea Uiat <Mily the West is practical is nonsense. You
are {oactical in one way, and I in another. There are
differant types of men and minds. If in the East a man is
udd that he will find out the truth by standing <m one leg
all his life, he will pursue that method. If in the West
men hear that there is a gold mine somewhere in an
uncivilised country, thousands will face the dangers thtfc,
in the h<^ of getting the gold ; and, perhaps, only one
succeeds. The same men have heard that they have souls
but are content to leave the care of them to the diutch.
The first man will not go near the savages, he says it may
be dangerous. But if we tell him that on the top of a
high mountain lives a wonderful sage who can give him
knowledge of the soul, he tries to climb up to him, even
if he be killed in the attempt. Both types of men are
practical, but the mistake lies in regarding this world as
the whole of life. Yours is the vanishing point (d enjoy-
ment of the senses — there is nothing permanent in it, it
only brings more and more misery— while mine brings
eternal peace.

1 do not say your view is wrong, you are welcome to
it. Great good and blessing come out of it, but do not,
therefore, condemn my view. Mine also is practical in its
own way. Let us all work on our ow/i plans. Would to
God all of us were equally practical on both sides. 1
have seen smne scientists who were equally practical,
both as scientists and as spiritual men, and it is my great
hope that in course of time the whole of humanity will be
efficioit in the same manner. When a kettle of water is
coming to the boil, if you watch the phenomenon, you
find first one bubble rising; and then another and so on,
until at last they all join, and a tremendous commotion
takes |dace. This world is very similar. Each individual
n->is

188

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

is like a bubble, and the nations, resemble many bubbles.
Gradually these nations are joining, and 1 am sure the
day will come when separation will vanish and diat One-
ness to which we are all going will become manifest.
A time must come when every man will be as intensely
practical in the scientific world as in the spiritual, and
then that Oneness, the harmony of Oneness, will pervade
the whole world. The whole of mankind will become
Jivanmuktas — free whilst living. We are all struggling
towards that one end through our Jealousies and hatreds,
through our love and co-operation. A tremendous stream
is flowing towards the ocean carrying us all along with it ;
and though like straws and scraps of paper we may at
times float aimlessly about, in the long run we are sure
to join the Ocean of Life and Bliss.

THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL

(Delivered in London, 5th November 1896)

The Katha Upanishad, which we have been studying,
was written much later than that to which we now turn —
the Chhindogya. The language is more modern, and the
thought more organised. In the older Upanishads the
language is very archaic, like that of the hymn portion
the Vedas, and one has to wade sometimes through quite
a mass of unnecessary things to get at the essential
doctrines. The ritualistic literature about which I told you,
which forms the second division of the Vedas, has left a
good deal of its mark upon this old Upanishad, so that
more than half of it is still ritualistic. There is, howevor,
one great gain in studying the very old Upanishads. You
trace, as it were, the historical growth of spiritual ideas.
In the more recent Upanishads, the spiritual ideas have
been collected and brought into one place ; as in the
Bhagavad GitI, for instance, which we may, perhaps, look
upon as the last of the Upanishads, you do not fod any
inkling of these ritualistic ideas. The Gita is like a bouquet
composed the beautiful flowers of spiritual truths
collected from the Upanishads. But in the Gita you can*
not study the rise of the spiritual ideas, you cannot trace
them to their source. To do that, as has been pointed out
by many, you must study fhe Vedas. The great idea of
holiness that has been attached to these books has pn*
served them, more than any other book in the world, from
mutilation. In them, thoughts at their highest and at
their lowest have all been preserved, the essential and the
non-essential, the most ennoUing teachings and the
simplest matters of detail stand side by side ; for nobody
has dared to touch them. Commentators came and tried

faifcfiflhiuh fuOiio

190

SWABH VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

to smooth them down and to bring out .wonderftd new
ideas from the old things ; they tried to find spiritual ideas
in even the most ordinary statements, but the texts
remained, and as such, they are the most wonderful
historical study. We all know that in the scriptures trf
every religion changes were made to suit the growing
spirituality of later times; one word was changed here
and another put in there, and so' on. This, probably,
has not been done with the Vedic literature, or if ever
done, it is almost imperceptible. So we have this great
advantage, we are able to study thoughts in their original
significance, to note how they developed, how from
materialistic ideas finer and finer spiritual ideas , are
evolved, until they attained their greatest height in the
Vedanta. Descriptions of some of the old manners and
customs are also there, but they do not appear much in
the Upanishads. The language used is peculiar, terse,
mnemonic.

The writers of these books simply jotted down these
lines as helps to remember certain facts which they sup-
posed were already well known. In a narrative, perhaps,
which they are telling, they take it for granted that it is
well known to everyone they are addressing. Thus a
great difficulty arises, we scarcely know the real meaning
of any one of these stories, because the traditions have
nearly died out, and the little that is left of them has been
very muih exaggerated. Many new interpretations have
been put upon them, so that when you find them in the
Puidnas they have already b^ome lyrical poems. Just
as in the West, we find this prominent fact in die political
devdopment of Western races that they cannot bear
absolute rule, that they are always trying to prevent any
one man frmn ruling over them, and are gradually ad-
vancing to higher and higher democratic ideas, higher and
higher ideas of physical liberty, so, in Indian metaphysics,
exactly the same phenmnenon appears in the devdt^nnent

! THE FKEElKHi OF THE 80U1. IH

of ipiritual life. The multiplicity of gods gave place to one
God ci die universe, and in die Upanishads diere is a
rebellion even against that one God. Not only was the
idea of many governors of the universe ruling theu destinies
unbearable, but it was also intolerable that there riiould
be one person ruling this universe. Thu is the fint thing
that strikes us. The idea grows and grows, until it attains
its climax. In almost all of the Upanishads, we find the
climax coming at the last, and that is the dethroning of
this God of the universe. The personality of God vanishes,
the impersonality comes. God is no more a person, no
more a human being, however magnified and exaggerated,
who rules this universe, but Ife has become an embodied
principle in every being, immanent in the whole universe.
It would be illogical to go from the Personal God to the
Impersmial, and at the same time to leave man as a
person. So the personal man is broken down, and man
as principle is built up. The person is only a phenome-
non, the principle is behind it. Thus from both sides,
simultaneously, we find the breaking down of personalities
and the approach towards principles, the Personal God
approaching the impersonal, the personal man approach-
ing the Impersonal Man. Then come the succeeding
stages of the gradual convergence of the two advaiKing
lines of the Impersonal God and the Impersonal Man.
And the Upanidiads embody the stages through which
these two lines at last become one, ,and the last word
of each Upanishad is, *Thou art That”. There is bht
One Etemdly Blissful Principle, and that One is manifest-
ing Itsdf as all this variety.

Then came the philosophers. The work of the Upani-
shads seems to have ended at that point; the next was
taken up by the philosophers. The framework was given
them by the Upanishads, and they had to fill in the details.
So, many questioru would naturally arise. Taking for
granted Aat there is but One Impanonal Principle which

192

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

is manifesting Itself in all these manifold fonns, how is it
that the One becomes many ? It is another way of putting
the same old question which in its crude form comes into
the human heart as the inquiry into the cause of evil and
so forth. Why does evil exist in the world, and what is
its cause? But the same question has now become re-
fined, abstracted. No more is it asked from the platform
of the senses why we are unhappy, but from the platform
of philosophy. How is it that this One Principle becomes
manifold? And the answer, as we have seen, the best
answer that India has produced is the theory of Miy&
which says that It really has not become manifold, that
It really has not lost any of Its real nature. Manifoldness
is only apparent. Man is only apparently a person, but in
reality he is the Impersonal Being. God is a person only
apparent 1\, but really He is the Impersonal Being.

Even in this answer there have been succeeding stages,
and philosophers have varied in their opinions. All Indian
philosophers did not admit this theory of Maya. Possibly
most of them did not. There are dualists, with a crude
sort of dualism, who would not allow the question to be
asked, but stifled it at its very birth. They said, ‘*You have
no right to ask such a question, you have no right to ask
for an explanation ; it is simply the will of God, and we
have to submit to it quietly. There is no liberty for the
human soul. Everything is predestined — ^what we shall
do, have, enjoy, and suffer ; and when suffering comes, it
is oiir duty to endure it patiently ; if we do not, we shall
be punished all the more. How do we know that?
Because the Vedas say so.” And thus they have their
texts and their meanings and they want to enforce them.

There are others who, though not admitting the Maya
theory, stand midtyay. They say that the whole of this
creation forms, as it were, ^e body of God. God is the
Soul of all souls and of the whole of nature. In the case of
individual souls, contraction comes from evil doing. When

THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL

IW

a fliian does anything evil, his soul begins to contract and
his power is diminished and goes on decreasing, until he
does good works, whoi it expands again. One idea seems
to be common in all the Indian systems, and I think, in
every system in the world, whether they know it or not,
and that is what I should call the divinity of man. There
is no one system in the world, no real religion, which does
not hold the idea that the human soul, whatever it be, or
whatever its relation to God, is essentially pure and
perfect, whether expressed in the language of mythology,
allegory, or philosophy. Its real nature is blessedness and
power, not weakness and misery. Somehow or other this
misery has come. The crude systems may call it a personi-
fied evil, a devil, or ah Ahriman, to explain how this
misery came. Other systems may try to make a God and
a devil in one, who makes some people miserable and
others happy, without any reason whatever. Others again,
more thoughtful, bring in the theory Maya and so forth.
But one fact stands out clearly, and it is with this that we
have to deal. After all, these philosophical ideas and
systems are but gymnastics of the mind, intdlectual
exercises. The one great idea that to me seems to be clear,
and comes out through masses of superstition in every
country and in every religion, is the one luminous idea
that man is divine, that divinity is our nature.

Whatever else comes is a mere superimposition, as
the Vedanta calls it. Something has Ijeen superimposed,
but that divine nature never dies. In the most degraded
as well as in the most saintly it is ever present. It has to
be called out, and it will wotlt itself out. We have to ask.
and it will manifest itself. The people of old knew, that
fire lived in the flint and in dry wood, but friction was
necessary to call it out. So this fire of freedom and purity
is the nature of every soul, and not a quality, because
qualities can be acquired and therefore can be lost. The
soul is one with Freedmn, and the soul is one with

194 SWAMl 1i^VEKANAIlDA*« WORKS

Existence, and the soul is one with Knowleti^. Tlw Sat-
Chit-Ananda — ^Existence-Rnowledge-Bliss Absolute—is the
nature, the birthright of the Soul, and all the iiuuiifesta*
tions that we see are Its expressions, dimly or brightly
manifesting Itself. Even death is but a manifestation oC
that Real Existence. Birth and death, life and decay,
degeneration and 'regeneration — are all manifestations o{
that Oneness. So, knowledge, however it manifests itself,
either as ignorance or as learning, is but the manifestation
of that same Chit, the essence of knowledge ; the difference
is only in degree, and not in kind. The difference in
knowledge between the lowest worm that crawls under our
feet and the highest genius that the world may produce
is only one of degree, and not of kind. The Vedantin
thinker boldly says that the enjoyments in this life, even
the most degraded joys, are but manifestations of that One
Divine Bliss, the Essence the Soul.

This idea seems to be the most prominent in Vedanta,
and, as I have said, it appears to me that every religion
holds it. I have yet to know the religion which does not.
It is the one universal idea working through all religions.
Take the Bible for instance. You find there the allegOT'
ical statement that the first man Adam was pure, and that
his purity was obliterated by his evil de^ afterwards.
It is clear from this allegory that they thought that the
nature of the primitive man was perfect. The impurities
that we see, the weaknesses that we feel, are but super-
impositions ^on that nature, and the subsequent history
(rf the Christian religion diows that they also believe in
the possibility, nay, the certainty of regaining that «dd
state. This is the whole history of die Bible, Old and
New Testaments together. So with the Mohammedans:
they also believed in Adam and the purity of Adam, and
through Mohammed the way was opened to regain that
lost state. So with the Buddhists: diey believe in the
state called Nirvina which is beyond this rdative world.

THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUI« M

It is exacdy the same as the Brahmasi of the VedasitiiiS/
and the whole system of the Buddhists is founded upcm
the idea ot regaining that lost state of Nirvana. In every
system we find this doctrine present^ that you cannot
get anything which is not yours already. You are indebted
to nobody in this universe. You daim your own birth-
right, as it has been most poetically expressed by a great
Vedantin philosopher, in the title of one of his books —
*‘The attainment of our own empire**. That empire is
ours ; we have lost it and we have to regain it. The
Miy^vidin, however, says that this losing of the empire
was a hallucination ; you never lost it. This is the only
difference.

Although all the systems agree so far that we had
the empire, and that we have lost it, they give us varied
advice as to how to regain it. One says that you must
perform certain ceremonies, pay certain sums of money
to certain idols, eat certain sorts of food, live in a peculiar
fashion to regain that empire. Another says that if you
weep and prostrate yourselves and ask pardon of some
Being beyond nature, you will regain that empire. Again,
another says if you love such a Being with all your heart,
you will regain that empire. All this varied^ advice is in
the Upanishads. As I go on, you will find it so. But the
last and the greatest counsel is that you need not weep
at all. You need not go through all these ceremonies,
and need not take any notice of how to regain your
empire, because yoji never lost it. Why should you go
to seek for what you never lost? You are pure already,
you are free already. If you think you are free, free you
are this moment, and if you think you are bound, bound
you will be. This is a very hold statement, and as I told
you at the beginning of this course, I shall have to speak
to you very boldly* It may frighten you now, but when
you think over it, and realise it in your own life, then
you will come to know that what I say is true. For,

196

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

supposing that freedom is not your nature, by no manner
of means can you become free. Supposing you were free
and in some way you lost that freedom, that shows that
you were not firee to begin with. Had you been free,
what could have made you lose it? The independent can
never be made dependent; if it is really dependent, its
independence was a hallucination.

Of the two sides, then, which will you take? If you
say that the soul was by its own nature pure and free, it
naturally follows that there was nothing in this universe
which could make it bound or limited. But if there was
anything in nature which could bind the soul, it naturally
follows that it was not free, and your statement that it was
free is a delusion. So if it is possible for us to attain to
freedom, the conclusion is inevitable that the soul is by its
nature free. It cannot be otherwise. Freedom means
independence of anything outeide, and that means that
nothing outside itself could work upon it as a cause. The
soul is causeless, and from this follow all the great ideas
that we have. You cannot establish the immortality of the
soul, unless you grant that it is by its nature free, or in
other words, that it cannot be acted upon by anything
outside. For death is an effect produced by some outside
cause. I drink poison and I die, thus showing that my
body can be acted upon by something outside that is called
poison. But if it be true that the soul is free, it naturally
follows that nothing can affect it, and it can never die.
Freedom, immortality, blessedness, all depend upon the
soul being beyond the law of causation, beyond this Maya.
Of these two which will you take? Either make the fir»t
a delusion, or make the second a delusion. Certainly 1
will make the second a delusion. It is more consonant
with all my feelings and aspirations. I am perfectly aware
that I am free by nature, and I will not admit that this
bondage is true and my freedom a delusion.

This discussion goes on in all philosophies, in some

THE nUCSDO^ OF Tia SOUL If?

form or other. Even in the most nmdem philosojAies you
find the same discussion arising. There are two parties.
One mys tJkat there is no soul, that the idea of soul is a
delusion produced by the repeated transit of particles of
matter, bringing about the combination which you call the
body or the brain ; that the impression of freedom is the
result of the vibrations and motions and continuous transit
of these particles. There were Buddhistic sects who held
the same view and illustrated it by this example; If you
take a torch and whirl it round rapidly, there will be a
circle of light. That circle does not really exist, because
the torch is changing place every moment. We are but
bundles of little particles, which in their rapid whirling
produce the delusion a permanent soul. The other
party states that in the rapid succession of thought, matter
occurs as a delusion, and does not really exist. So we see
one side claiming that spirit is a delusion and the other,
that matter is a delusion. Which side will you take?
Of course, we will take the spirit and deny matter. The
arguments are similar for both, only on the spirit side the
argument is little stronger. For nobody has ever seen
what matter is. We can only feel ourselves. I never knew
a man who could feel matter outside of himself. Nobody
was ever able to jump outside of himself. Therefore the
argument is a little stronger on the side of the spirit.
Secondly, the spirit theory explains the universe, while
materialism does not. Hence the materialistic explana-
tion is illogical. If you boil do«m all the philosophies and
analyse them, you will find that they are reduc^ to ode
or the other of these two positions. So here, too, in a more
intricate form, in a more philosc^hical form, we find the
same question about natural purity and freedom. One
side says that the first is a delusion, and the other, that
> the second is a delusion. And, of fourse, we side with the
second, in believing that our bondage is a delusion,

The solution (rf the Vedanta is that we are not

196

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

bound, we are free already. Not only to, but to tay or to
think that we are bound is danferoua— it is a mistake, it
is self-hypnotism. As soon as you say, “I am bcwnd,”
"I am weak," "I ataoi helpless," woe unto you ; you rivet
one more chain upon yourself. Do not say it, do not
think it. I have heard of a man who lived in a forest and
used to repeat day and nig^t, "Shivoham” — am the
Blessed One — and one day a tiger fell upon him and
dragged him away to kill him ; people on the other side
of the river saw it, and heard the voice so long as voice
remained in him, saying, "Shivoham" — even in the very
jaws of the tiger. There have been many such men.
There have been cases of men who, while being cut to
pieces, have blessed their enemies. “I am He, I am He :
and so art thou. I am pure and perfect and so are all
my enemies. You are He, and so am 1." That is the
position of strength. Nevertheless, there are great and
wonderful things in the religions of the dualists ; wonder-
ful is the idea of the Personal God apart from nature,
whom we worship and love. Sometimes this idea is
very soothing. But, says the Vedanta, the soothing is
something like the effect that comes from an opiate, not
natural. It brings weakness in the long run, and what this
world wanu today, more than it ever did before, is
strength. It is weakness, says the Vedanta, which is the
cause of all misery in this world. Weakness is die one
cause of suffering. We become miserable because we are
weak. We lie, steal, kill, and commit other crimes,
because we are weak. We suffer because we are weak.
We die because we are weak. Where there is nothing to
weaken us, there is no death nor sorrow. We are
miserable through delusion. Give up the delusion, and
the whole thing vanishes. It is plain and simple indeed.
Through all these philosophical discussions and tremendous
mental gymnastics we come to this one religious idea, the
simplest in the whole world.

THE FRE^K>M OF THE SOUL

Its

Hie numistic Vedanta t« the nmplest form in which
you can put truth. To teach dualinn was a tremendous
mistake made in India and elsewhne, because people
did not lo(A at the ultimate principles, but only thought
of the process which is very intricate indeed. To many,
these tremendous philosophical and logical propositions
were alanning. They thought these things could not be
made universal, could not be fcdlowed in everyday
practical life, and that under the guise of such a
philosophy much laxity of living would arise.

But I do not believe at all that monistic ideas preached
to the world would produce immorality and weakness. On
the contrary, I have reason to believe that it is the only
remedy there is. If this be the truth, why let people drink
ditch water when the stream of life is flowing by? If this
be the truth, that they are all pure, why not at this moment
teach it to the whole world? Why not teach it with the
voice of thunder to every man that is bom, to saints and
sinners, men, women, and diildren, to the man on the
throne and to the man sweeping the streets?

It appears now a very big and a very great under-
taking ; to many it appears very startling, but that is be-
cause of superstition, nothing else. By eating all sorts of
bad and indigestible food, or by starving ourselves, we are
incompetent to eat a good meal. We have listened to
words of weakness from our childhood. You hear people
say that they do not believe in ^osts..but at the same
time, there are very few who do not get a little creepy
senmtion in the dark. It is simply superstition. So with
all religious superstitions. There are people in this country
who, if I told them there was no such being as the devil,
will think all religion is gone. Many people have said to
me, how can there be religion without a devil? How can
there be religion without someone to direct us? How can
we live without being ruled by somebody? We like to be
so treated, because we have beccnne used to it. We are

200

SWAMl VIVERANANDA'S WORKS

not happy until we feel we have been reprimanded by
somebody every day. The same supentition! But how-
ever terrible it may seem now, the time will come when we
shall look back, each one of us, and smile at every one of
those superstitions which covered the pure and eternal
soul, and repeat with gladness, with truth, and with
strength, I am free, and was free, and always will be free.
This monistic idea will come out of Vedanta, and it is the
one idea that deserves to live. The scriptures may perish
tomorrow. Whether this idea first flashed into the brains
of Hebrews or of people living in the Arctic regions,
nobody cares. For this is the truth and truth is eternal ;
and truth itself teaches that it is not the special property of
any individual or nation. Men, animals, and gods are all
common recipients of this one truth. Let them all receive
it. Why make life miserable? Why let people fall into
all sorts of superstitions? 1 will give ten thousand lives, if
twenty of them will give up their superstition. Not only
in this country, but in the land of its very birth, if you tell
people this truth, they are frightened. They say, **This
idea is for Sanny&sins who give up the world and live in
forests ; for them it is all right. But for us poor house-
holders, we must all have some sort of fear, we must have
ceremonies,” and so on.

Dualistic ideas have ruled the world long enough, and
this is the result. Why not make a new experiment? It
may take ages for all minds to receive monism, but why
not begin now? If we have told it to twenty persons in
our lives, we have done a great work.

There is one idea which often militates against it.
It is this. It is all very well to say, *1 am the Pure, the
Blessed,” but I cannot show it always in my life. . That if
true; the ideal is always very hard. Every child that is
born sees the sky overhead very far away, but is that any
reason why we should not look towards the sky? Would
it mend matten to go towards superstition? If we cannot

THE FREEDOM OF THE SOUL W1

get nectar, would it mend matters for us to drink poiscm?
Would it be any help for us, because we cannot realise
the truth immediately, to go into darkness and yield to
weakness and superstition?

I have no objection to dualism in many of its forms.
I like most of them, but 1 have objections to every form of
teaching which inculcates weakness. This is the one ques-
tion I put to every man, woman, or child, when they are in
physical, mental, or spiritual training. Are you strong?
Do you feel strength? — for I know it is truth alone that
gives strength. I know that truth alone gives life, and
nothing but going towards reality will make us strong, and
none will readi truth until he is strong. Every system,
therefore, which weakens the mind, makes one supersti-
tious, makes one mope, makes one desire all sorts of wild
impossibilities, mysteries, and superstitions, I do not like,
because its effect is dangerous. Sudi systems never bring
any good ; such things oeate morbidity in the mind, make
it weak, so weak that in course of time it will be almost
impossible to receive truth ot live up to it. Strength, there-
fore, is the one thing needful. Strength is the medicine
for the world’s disease. Strength is the medicine which
the poor must have when tyrannised over by the rich.
Strength is the medicine that the ignorant must have when
oppressed by the learned ; and it is the medicine that
sinners must have when tyrannised over by other sinners ;
and nothing gives such strength as thi^ idea of monism.
Nothing makes us so moral as this idea of monism.
Nothing makes us work so well at our best and highest as
when all the responsibility is thrown upon ourselves. I
challenge everyone of you. How will you behave if I put
a little baby in your hands? Your whole life will be
changed for the moment ; whatever you may be, you must
become selfless for the time being. You will give up all
your criminal ideas as soon as responsibility is thrown
upon you — ^your whole character will chai^. So if the

202

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

whole responsibility is thrown upon our own shouldei^
we shall be at our highest and best ; when we have
nobody to grope towards> no devil to lay our blame upon,
no Personal God to carry our burdens, when we are sdone
responsible, then we shall rise to our highest and best.
1 am responsible for my fate, I am the bringer of good
unto myself, 1 am the bringer of evil. 1 am the Pure
and Blessed One. We must reject all thoughts that assm
the contrary. **I have neither death nor fear, I have
neither caste nor creed, I have neither father nor mother
nor brother, neither friend nor foe, for I am Existence,
Knowledge, and Bliss Absolute ; I am the Blissful One,
I am the Blissful One. I am not bound either by virtue
or vice, by happiness or misery. Pilgrimages and books
and ceremonials can never bind me. I have neither
hunger nor thirst ; the body is not mine, nor am I subject
to the superstitions and decay that come to the body,
I am Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss Absolute ; I am
the Blissful One, 1 am the Blissful One/'

This, says the Vedanta, is the only prayer that we
should have. This is the only way to reach the goal, to
tell ourselves, and to tell everybody else, that we are
divine. And as we go on repeating this, strength comes.
He who falters at first will get stronger and stronger, and
the voice will increase in volume until the truth takes
possession of our hearts, and courses through our veins,
and permeates our bodies. Delusion will vanish as the
light becomes more and more effulgent, load after load of
ignorance will vanish, and then will come a time when
all else has disappeared and the Sun alone shines.

THE COSMOS

The Macrocosm

(Delivered in New York, 19th January 1S96)

The flowers that we see all around us are beautiful,
beautiful is the rising of the morning sun, beautiful are the
variegated hues of nature. The whole universe is beauti-
ful, and man has been enjoying it since his appearance on
earth. Sublime and awe-inspiring are the mountains ; the
gigantic rushing rivers rolling towards the sea, the trackless
deserts, the infinite ocean, the starry heavens — all these are
awe-inspiring, sublime, and beautiful indeed. The whole
mass of existence which we call nature has been acting on
the human mind since time Immemorial. It has been acting
on the thought of man, and as its reaction has come out
the question: What are these, whence are they? As
far back as the time of the oldest portion of that most
ancient human composition, the Vedas, we find the same
question asked : '‘Whence is this? When there was neither
aught nor naught, and darkness was hidden in darkness,
who projected this universe? How? Who knows the
secret?" And the question has come down to us at the
present time. Millions of attempts have been made to
answer it, yet millions of times it will have to be answered
again. It is not that each answer w^is a failure ; every
answer to this question contained a part of truth, and this
(ruth gathers strength as time rolls on. I will try to present
before you the outline of the answer that 1 have gathered
from the ancient philosophers of India, in harmony* with
modem knowledge.

We find that in this oldest of questions a few points
had been already solved. The first is thkt there was a
time when there was "neither aught nor naught", when this
n-i4

SM SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

vrwld did not exist ; our mother earth widi the seas and'
oceans, the rivers, and mountains, cities and vil!j^>
human races, animals, plants, birds, and planets and lumi*
naries, all this infinite Variety of creation, had no existence.
Are we sure of that? We will try to trace how this condu*
sion is arrived at What does man see around him? Take
a little plant. He puts a seed in the ground, and later, he
finds a plant peep out, lift itself slowly above the ground,
and grow and grow, till it becomes a gigantic tree. Then
it dies, leaving only the seed. It completes the drde — it
comes out of the seed, beCbmes the tree, and ends in the
seed again. Look at a bird, how from the egg it springs,
lives its life, and then die^, leaving other eggs, seeds of
future birds. So with the animals, so with man. Every-
thing in nature begins, as it were, front certain seeds, cer-
tain rudiments, certain fine forms, and becomes grosser
and grosser, and develops, going on that way for a certain
time, and then again goes back to that fine form, and sub-
sides. The raindrop in which the beautiful sunbeam is
playing was drawn in the form of vapour from the ocean,
went far away into the air, and reached a region where it
changed into water, and dropped down in its present form
— to be converted into vapour again. So with everything m
nature by which we are surrounded. We know that the
huge mountains are being worked upon by glaciers and
rivers, which are slowly but surely pounding them and
pulverising them into sand, that drifts away into the ocean
where it settles down on its bed, layer after layer, be-
coming hard as rocks, once more to be heaped up into
mountains of a future generation. Again they will be
pounded and pulverised, and thus the course goes on.
From sand rise these mountains ; unto sand they go.

If it be true that nature is uniform throughout, if it
be true, and so far no human experience has contradicted
it, that the same method under whirii a small grain of sand
is created, works in creating the gigantic suns and stars

THBCOmOS

and all diis universe, if it be true that the wlude ci Uds
universe is bnilt on exacdy the same plan as the atom, if it
be true that the same law prevails thronf^iout the universe
then, as it has beat said in the Vedas, ‘‘Knowinff one lump
ci day we know the nature of all the day that is in the
universe.** Take up a little plant and study itt life, and we
know the universe as it is. If we know one grain of sand,
we understand the secret of the whole universe. Applyii^
this course of reasoning to phenomena, we find, in th(^nt
place, that everything is almost similar at the beginning
and the end. The mounuin comes from the sand, and
goes bade to the sand : the river comes out of vapour, and
goes back to vapour ; plant life comes from the seed, and
goes back to the seed ; human life comes out of human
germs, and goes back to human germs. The universe with
its stars and planets has come out of a nebulous state
and must go back to it. What do we learn from this?
That the manifested or the grosser state is the effect, and
the finer state the cause. Thousands of years ago, it was
demonstrated by Kapila, the great father of aU jdiilosophy,
that destruction meaiu going back to the cause. If this
table here is destroyed, it will go back to its cause, to those
fine forms and partides which, combined, made this form
which we caU a table. If a man dies, he will go back to
the elements whidi gave him his .body ; if this earth dies,
it wfll go back to the dements whidi gave it form. This
is what is called destruction, going back to the cause.
Therefore we learn that the effea is the same as the cause,
not different It is only in another form. This glass is an
effect, and it had its cause, and this cause is present in this
form. A certain amount of the material called g^ass plus
the Force in the hands of the manufacturer, are the causes,
the instrumental and the material, which, combined, pro>
duced this form called a glass. The force whidi was in the
hands die manufacturer is present in the glass as the
power of adhesion, without which the partides would frU

206

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

apart ; and the glass material is also present. The glass is
only a manifestation of these fine causes in a new shape*
and if it be broken to pieces, the force which was present
in the form of adhesion will go back and join its own
element, and the particles of glass will remain the same
until they take new forms.

Thus we find that the effect is never different from the
cause. It is only that this effect is a reproduction of the
causf, in a grosser form. Next, we learn that all these
particular forms which we call plants, animals, or men axe
being repeated ad infinitum, rising and falling. The seed
produces the tree. The tree produces the seed, which
again comes up as another tree, and so on and on ; there
is no end to it. Water-drops roll down the mountains into
the ocean, and rise again as vapour, go back to the
mountains and again come down to the ocean. So, rising
and falling, the cycle goes on. So with all lives, so with
all existence that we can see, feel, hear, or imagine.
Everything that is within the bounds of our knowledge is
proceeding in the same way, like breathing in and breath-
ing out in the human body. Everything in creation goes
on in this form, one wave rising, another falling, rising
again, falling again. Each wave has its hollow, each hol-
low has its wave. The same law must apply to the uni-
verse taken as a whole, ‘because of its uniformity. This
universe must be resolved into its causes ; the sun, moon,
stars, and earth, the body and mind, and everything in
this univeite must return to their finer causes, disappear,
be destroyed as it were. But they will live in the causes as
fine forms. Out of these fine forms they will emerge again
as new earths, suns, moons, and stars.

There is one fact more to learn about this rising and
falling. The seed comes out of the tree ; it does not im-
mediately become a tree, but has a period of inactivity, or
rather, a period of very fine unmanifested action. The seed
has to work for some time beneath the soil. It breaks into

THE COSMOS

£07

pieces* degenerates as it were* and regeneration comes out
of that degeneration. In the beginning* the. whole of this
universe has to worh likewise for a period in that minute
form* unseen and unmanifested* which is called chaos* and
out of that comes a new projection. The whole period of
one manifestation of diis universe — its going down into
the finer form* remaining there for some time* and coming
out again — ^is* in Sanskrit* called a Kalpa or a Cyde. Next
comes a very important question especially for modern
times. We see that the finer forms develop slowly and
slowly, and gradually becomes grosser and grosser. We
have seen that the cause is the same as the effect* and the
effect is only the cause in another form. Therefore this
whole universe cannot be produced out of nothing.
Nothing comes without a cause* and the cause is the effect
in another form.

Out of what has this universe been produced then?
From a preceding fine universe. Out of what has man
been produced? The preceding fine form. Out of what
has the tree been produced? Out of the seed ; the whole
of the tree was there in the seed. It comes out and becomes
manifest. So* the whole of this universe has been created
out of this very universe existing in a minute form. It has
been made manifest now. It will go back to that minute
form* and again will be made manifest. Now we find that
the fine forms slowly come out and become grosser and
grosser until they reach their limit* and when they reach
their limit they go back further and further, becoming
finer and finer again. This coming out of the fine and
becoming gross* simply changing the arrangements of its
parts* as it were* is what in modern times called evolu-
tion. This is very true* perfectly true ; we see it in our
lives. No rational man can possibly quarrel with these
evolutionists. But we have to learn one thing more. We
have to go one step further* and what is that? That every
evolution is preceded by an involution. The seed is the

Pithhii ktibmra

268 SWAMl VIVZKANANDA'S WORKS

Cadier ot the tree, but another tree was itsdf the hither ot
the seed. The seed is the fine form out of whidi the big
tree comes, and another big tree was die ham udikdi is
involved in that seed. The whole of this universe was
present in the cosmic fine universe. The little cell, which
becomes afterwards the man, was simply the involved
man and becinnes evtdved as a man. If this is dear, we
have no quarrel with the evolutionists, for we see that if
they admit this step, instead erf their destroying religion,
they will be the greatest supporters of it

We see Aen, that nothing can be created out of
nothing. Everything exists throu(^ eternity, and will exist
througii eternity. Only the movement is in succeedii^
waves and hollows, going back to fine forms, and coming
out into gross manifestations. This involution and evolu*
tion is going on throu^out the whole of nature. The whole
series of evolution beginning with the lowest manifestation
of life and reaching up to the highest, the most perfea
man, must have been the involution of something else. The
question is: The involution of what? What was inverfved?
God. The evolutionist will tell you that your idea that it
was God is wrong. Why? Because you see God is intelli*
gent, but we find that intdligence develops much later on
in the ccwrse of evolution. It is in man and the higher
animals that we find intelligence, but millions of years have
passed in this world bef^ this intelligence came. This
jection o| the evolutionists does not hold water, as we shall
see by applying our theory. The tree comes out of the
seed, goes bad: to the seed ; the beginning and the eml
are the same. The earth comes out of its cause and returns
to it. We know that if we can find the begiiming we can
find the end. E conuerso, if we find the end we can find
the begiiming. If that is so, take this whole evolutionary
series, from the protoplasm at one end to the perfect
man at the other, and this whole series is one life.
In the end we find the perftet man, so in the beghmhig

niEGoaios

it must have been the same. Therefore, die protoplam
was the involudon of die highest intelUgenoe. You may
not see it but that invtdved intelligence is what is toMxril*
ing itself until it becomes manifested in the most perfect
man. That can be mathematically demonstrated. If the
law of conservation of energy is true, you cannot get
anything out of a machine unless you put it in there first.
The amount of work that you get out o£ an engine is
exactly the same as you have put into it in the form of
water and coal, neither more nor less. The work I am doing
now is just what I put into me, in the shape of air, food,
and other things. It is only a quesdon of change and mani-
festation. There cannot be added in the economy of this
universe one particle of matter or one foot-pound force,
nor can one particle of matter or one foot-pound of force
be taken out. If that be the case, what is this intelligence?
If it was not present in the protoplasm, it must have come
all of a sudden, scnnething coming out of nothing, which is
absurd. It, therefore, follows absolutely that the perfect
man, the free man, the God-man, who has gone beyond
the laws of nature, and transcended everything, who has
no more to go through this process of evoludon, through
birth and death, that man csdled the "Christ-man" by the
Christians, and the "Buddha-man” by the Buddhists, and
the 'Tree” by the Yogis — that perfect man who is at one
end of the chain of evolution was involved in the cell the
protoplasm, which is at the other en^ of the same dmin.

Applying the same reason to the whole of the universe,
we see that intelligence must be the Lord of creadon, the
cause. What is the most evtdved nodon that man has of
this nniverse ? It is intelligence, the adjustment of part
to part, the display intelligence, of which the ancient
design theory was an attempt at expression. The begin-
ning was, therefore^ intelligence. At the beginnii^ that
intell^enoe becomes hmdved, and in the end that intelli-
gence gets evolved. The sum total of the inteUigence

210

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

displayed in the univene must, therefore, be the involved
universal intelligence unfolding itself. This universal in-
telligence is what we call God. Call it by any other name,
it is absolutely certain that in the beginning there is that
Infinite cosmic intelligence. This cosmic intelligence gets
involved, and it manifests, evolves itself, until it becomes
the perfect man, the "Christ-man,” the "Buddha-man."
Then it goes back to its own source. That is why all the
scriptures say, “In Him we live and move and have our
being.” That is why all the scriptures preach that we
come from God and go back to God. Do not be fright-
ened by theological terms ; if terms frighten you, you are
not fit to be philosophers.. This cosmic intelligence is
what the theologians call God.

I have been asked many times, “Why do you use that
old word, God?” Because it is the best word for our
purpose ; you cannot find a better word than that, because
all the hopes, aspirations, and happiness of humanity have
been centred in that word. It is impossible now to change
the word. Words like these were first coined by great
saints who realised their import and understood their
meaning. But as they become current in society, ignorant
people take these words, and the result is that they lose
their spirit and glory. The word God has been used from
time immemorial, and the idea of this cosmic intelligence,
and all that is great and holy, is associated with it. Do you
mean to say that because some fool says it is not all right,
we should' throw it away ? Another man may come and
say, “Take my word,” and another again, “Take my
word.” So there will be no end to foolish words. Use the
old word, only use it in the true spirit, cleanse it of super-
stition, and realise fully what this great ancient word
means. If you understand the power of the laws of asso-
ciation, you will know that these words are associated with
innumerable majestic and powerful ideas ; they have been
used and worshipped by millions of human souls and

THE COSMOS

211

associated by them with all that is highest and best^ all
that is rational, all that is lovable, and all that is great and
grand in human nature. And they come as suggestions of
these associations, and cannot be given up. If 1 tried to
express all these by only telling you that God created the
universe, it would have conveyed no meaning to you.
Yet, after all this struggle, we have come back to Him, the
Ancient and Supreme One.

We now see that all the various forms of cosmic
energy, such as matter, thought, force, intelligence and so
forth, are simply the manifestations of that coanic intelli-
gence, or, as we shall call it henceforth, the Supreme Lord.
Everything that you see, feel, or hear, the whole universe,
is His creation, or to be a little more accurate, is His pro-
jection ; or to be still more accurate, is the Lord Himself.
It is He who is shining as the sun and the stars. He is the
mother earth. He is the ocean Himself. He comes as
gentle showers. He is the gentle air that we breathe in, and
He it is who is working as force in the body. He is the
speech that i$ uttered. He is the man who is talking. He is
the audience that is here. He is the platform cm which I
stand. He is the light that enables me to see your faces. It
is all He. He Himself is both the material and the eCBdent
cause of this universe, and Ife it is that gets involved in the
minute cell, and evolves at the other end and becomes
God again. He it is that comes down and becomes the
lowest atom, and slowly unfolding ^is nature, rejoins
Himself. This is the mystery of the universe. 'Thou art
the man. Thou art the woman. Thou art the strong man
walking in the pride of youth. Thou art the old man
tottering on crutches. Thou art in everythii^. Thou art
everything, O Lord.” This is the only solution of the
Coanos that satisfies the human intellect. In one word,
we are bom of Him, we live in Him, and unto Him we
return.

THE COSMOS

The Microcosm

{Delivered in New York, 26th January J896) ^

The human mind naturally wants to get outside, to
peer out of the body, as it were, through the channels of
the oigans. The eye must see, the ear must hear, the
senses must sense the external world — ^and naturally the
beauties and sublimities of nature captivate the attention
of man first. The first questions that arose in the human
soul were about the external world. The solution of the
mystery was asked of the sky, of the stars, of the heavenly
bodies, of the earth, of the rivers, of the mountains, of the
ocean ; and in all ancient religions we find traces of how
the groping human mind at first caught at everything
external. There was a river-god, a sky-god, a doud-god,
a rain-god ; everything external, all ot which we now call
the powers of nature, became metamorphosed, trans-
figured, into wills, into gods, into heavenly messengers.
As the question went deeper and deeper, these external
manifestations failed to satisfy the human mind, and finally
the energy turned inward, and the question was adeed ci
man's own soul. From the macrocosm the question was
reflected back to the microcosm ; from the external world
the question was reflected to the internal. From analysing
the external nature, man is led to analyse the internal ; this
questioning of the internal man comes with a higher state
of civilisation, with a deeper insight into nature, with
a higher state of growth.

The subject of discussion this afternoon is this internal
man. No question is so near and dear to man's heart
as that of the internal maO. How many millions of times,
in how many countries has this question been asked 1

THECOSMdS

Sages and kings, ridi and pooi> saints and sinners, every
man, eve^ wpman; |dl have {rom time to time asked this
question. Is them nothing permanent in this evanescent
human life? Is there nothing, they have adied, which
does not die away when diis body dies ? Is there not
something living when this frame crumbles into dust ?
Is there not something whidi survives the fire which bums
the body into ashes ? And if so, what is its destiny ?
I^eie does it go? Whence did it come? These questions
have been asked again and again, and so long as this
creation lasts, so long as there are human brains to think,
this question will have to be asked. Yet, it is not that
the answer did not come; each time the answer came,
and as time rolls on, the answer will gain strength more
and more. The question was answered once for all
thousands of years ago, and through all subsequent time
it is being restated, reillustrated, made dearer to our
intellect. What we have to do, therefore, is to make a
restatement of the answer. We do not pretend to throw
any new light on those aU-absorbing problems, but only to
put before you the andent truth in the lai^age of
modern times, to speak the thoughts of the ancients in
the language of the modems, to speak the thoughts of the
philosophers in the langpuage of the people, to speak the
thoughts of the angels in the language of man, to speak
the thoughts of God in the language of poor humanity, so
that man will understand them ; for the same divine
essence from which the ideas emanated is ever present in
man, and, therefore, he can always understand them.

I am looking at you. How many things are necessary
for this vision ? First, the eyes. For if I am perfect in
every other way, and yet have no eyes, I shall not be able
to see you. Secondly, die real organ of vision. For the
eyes are not the oigans. They are but the instruments of
i^on, and bdiind them is the real organ, the nerve centre
in the brain. If that centre be injured, a man may have

i iii thirilki.M'a

214

SWAMI VIVEKANANDVS WORKS

the clearest pair of eyes, yet he will not be able to see
anything. So, it is necessary that this centre, or the real
organ, be there. Thus, with all our senses. The external
ear is but the instrument for carrying the vibration of
sound inward to the. centre. Yet, that is not sufficient.
Suppose in your library you are intently reading a book,
and the clock strikes, yet you do not hear it. The sound
is there, the pulsations in the air are there, the ear and
the centre are also there, and these vibrations have been
carried through the ear to the centre, and yet you do not
hear it. What is wanting ? The mind is not there. Thus
we see that the third thing necessary is, that the mind
must be there. First the external instruments, then the
organ to which this external instrument will carry the
sensation, and lastly the organ itself must be joined to
the mind. When the mind is not joined to the organ, the
organ and the ear may take the impression, and yet we
shall not be conscious of it. The mind, too, is only the
carrier ; it has to carry the sensation still forward, and
present it to the intellect. The intellect is the determining
faculty and decides upon what is brought to it. Still this
is not sufficient. The intellect must carry it forward and
present the whol^ thing before the ruler in the body, the
human soul, the king on the throne. Before him this is
presented, and then from him comes the order, what to
do or what not to do; and the order goes down in the
same sequence to the intellect, to the mind, to the organs,
and the organs convey it to the instruments, and the
perception is complete.

The instruments are in the external body, the gross
body of man ; but the mind and the intellect ate not.
They are in what is called in Hindu philosophy the finer
body, and what in Christian thedogy you lead'd at the
spiritual body of man; finer, very mudi finer than the
body, and yet not. the soul. This soul is .beyond than all.
The external body perishes in a few years ; any simple

THE COSMOS

215

cause may disturb and destroy it. The finer body is not so
easily perishable; yet it sometimes degenerates^ and at
other times becomes strong. We see how, in the old man,
the mind loses its strength, how, when the body is
vigorous, the mind becomes vigorous, how various medi-
cines and drugs affect it, how everything external acts on
it, and how it reacts on the external world. Just as the
body has its progress and decadence, so also has the mind,
and, therefore, the mind is not the soul, because the soul
can neither decay nor degenerate. How can we know
that ? How can we know that there is something behind
this mind ? Because knowledge which is self-illuminating
and the basis of intelligence cannot belong to dull, dead
matter. Never was seen any gross matter which had
intelligence as its own essence. No dull or dead matter
can illumine itself. It is intelligence that illumines all
matter. This hall is here only through intelligence be-
cause, as a hall, its existence would be unknown unless
some intelligence built it. This body is not self-luminous ;
if it were, it would be so in a dead man also. Neither
can the mind nor the spiritual body be self-luminous. They
are not of the essence of intelligence. That which is
self-luminous cannot decay. The luminosity of that which
shines through a borrowed light comes and goes ; but that
which is light itself, what can make that come and go,
flourish and decay ? We see that the moon waxes and
wanes, because it shines through the bosrowed light of the
sun. If a lump of iron is put into the fire and made red-
hot, it glows and shines, but its light will vanish, because
it is borrowed. So, decadence is possible only of that light
which is borrowed and is not of its own essence.

Now we see that the body, the external shape^ has no
light as its own essence, is not self-luminous, and cannot
know itself; neither can the mind. Why not? Because
the mind waxes and wanes, because it is vigorous at one
time and weak at another, because it can be acted upon

t. ~ 1

216 SWAMI VIVEKAMANDA’S WORKS

by anything and everything. Therefore the light whidi
ahines through the mind is not its own. Whose is it then ?
It must beloi^ to that which has it as its own essence, and
as such, can never decay or die. never becmne stronger or
weaker ; it is self4uminous. it is luminosity itself. It can-
not be that the soul knows, it is knowledge. It cannot
be that the soul has existence, but it is existence. It can-
not be that the soul is happy, it u happiness itself. That
which is happy has borrowed its happiness ; that which
has knowledge has received its knowledge ; and that which
has relative existence has only a reflected existence.
Wherever thdre are qualities these qualities have been
reflected upon the substance, but the soul has not knowl-
edge, existence, and blessedness as its qualities, they are the
essence of the soul.

Again, it may be asked, why shall we take this for
granted ? Why shall we admit that the soul has knowledge,
blessedness, existence, as its essence, and has not borrowed
them ? It may be argued, why not say that the soul’s
luminosity, the soul's blessedness, the soul’s knowledge, are
borrowed in the same way as the luminosity of the body
is borrowed from the mind ? The fallacy of arguing in
this way will be that there will be no limit. From whom
were these borrowed ? If we say from some other source,
the same question will be asked again. So, at last we
shall have to come to one who is self-luminous ; to make
matters short then, the logical way is to stop where we get
selMumidosity, and proceed no further.

We see, then, that this human being is composed first
of this' external covering, the body; secondly, the finer
body, consistirtg oi mind, intellect, and ^oisin. Behind
them is the real Self of man. We have seen that all the
qualities and powers of the gross body are borrowed from
foe mind, and the mind, foe finer body, borrows its powers
and luminosity from foe soul, standing bdiind.

A great many questions now arise about foe nature of

THE COSMOS

m

this soul. K the existence o£ the soul is drawn from the
aiguineht diat it is sdf-luihinous, that knowledge, exist*
ence, blessedness are its essence, it naturally follows that
this soul cannot have been created. A sdf-luminous exist*
ence, independent of any other existence, could never have
been die outcrane ci anything. It always existed ; there
was never a time when it did not exist, because if the soul
did not exist, where was time ? Time is in the soul ; it
is when the soul reflects its powers on the mind and the
mind thinks, that time comes. When there was no soul,
certainly there was no thoi^t, and without thought, there
was no time. How can the soul, therefore, be said to
be existing in time, when time itsdf exists in the soul ?
It has neither birth nor death, but it is passing through
all these various stages. It is manifesting slowly and
gradually from lower to higher, and so on. It is repressing
its own grandeur, working through the mind on the body ;
and through the body it is grasping the external world
and understanding it. It takes up a body and uses it ; and
when that body has failed and is used up, it takes another
body ; and so on it goes.

Here cmnes a very interesting question, that question
which is generally known as the reincarnation of the soul.
Sometimes people get frightened at the idea, and supersti-
tion is so strong that thinking men even believe that they
are the outcome of nothing, and then, with the grandest
logic, try to deduce the theory that although they have
come out of zero, they will be eternal ever afterwards.
Those that come out of zero will certainly have to go back
to zero. Neither you, nor I nor anyone present,, has come
out of zero, nor will go back to zero. We have been
existing eternally, and will exist, and there is no power
under the sun or above the sun which can undo your or
my existence or send us back to zero. Now this idea of
tefocamation is not only not a frightening idea, but is
most essential for the moral wdl-being of the human race.

21S

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

It is the only logical conclusion diat thoi^htfal men can
arrive at. If you are going to exist in eternity hereafter, it
must be that you have existed through eternity in the past:
it cannot be otherwise. I will try to answer a few objec
tions that are generally brought against the theor>'.
Although many of you will think they are very silly
objections, still we have to answer them, for scMiietimes we
And that the most thoughtful men ate ready to advance the
silliest ideas. Well has it been said that there never was
an idea so absurd that it did not find philosophers to
defend it. The first objection is, why do we not remember
our past ? Do we remember all our past in this life ? How
many of you remember what you did when you were
babies ? None of you remember your early diildhood,
and if upon memory depends your existence, then this
argument proves that you did not exist as babies, because
you do not remember your babyhood. It is simply
unmitigated nonsense to say that our existence depends
on our remembering it. Why should we remember the
past? That brain is gone, broken into pieces, and a
new brain has been manufactured. What has come to
this brain is the resultant, the sum total of the impressions
acquired in our past, with which the mind has come to
inhabit the new body.

I, as I stand here, am the effect, the reshlt, of all the
infinite past which is tacked on to me. And why is it
necessary for me to remember all the past ? When a
great ancient sage, a seer, or a prophet of old, who came
face to face with the truth, says something, these modem
men stand up and say, "Ob, he was a fool I" But just
use another name, "Huxley says it, or Tyndall" ; then it
must be true, and they take it for granted. In place of
ancient superstitions they have erected modem supersti-
tions, in place of the old Popes of religion they have
installed modem Popes of science. So we see that Uiis
objection as to memmry is not valid, and that is about the

THE COSMOS

219

only serious objection that b raised against this theory.
Although we have seen that it is not necessary for the
theory that there shall be the memory of past lives, yet
at the same time, we are in a position to assert that there
are instances which show that this memory does come,
and that each one of us will get back this memory in
that life in which he will become free. Then alone you
will find that this world is but a dream ; then alone you
will realise in the soul of your soul that you are but acton
and the world is a stage ; then alone will the idea of non-
attachment come to you with the power of thunder ; then
all this thirst for enjoyment, this clinging on to life and
this world will vanish for ever; then the mind will see
clearly as daylight how many times all these existed for
you, how many millions of times you had fathers and
mothers, sons and daughten, husbands and wives,
relatives and friends, wealth and power. They came and
went. How many times you were on the topmost crest of
the wave, and how many times you were down at the
bottom of despair! When memory will bring all these to
you, then alone will you stand as a hero and smile when
the world frowns upon you. Then alone will you stand up
and say, "T care not for thee even, O Death ; what terrors
hast thou for me?** This .will come to all.

Are there any arguments, any rational proofs for this
reincarnation of the soul? So far we have been giving the
negative side, showing that the opposite arguments to
disprove it are not valid. Are there any positive proofs?
There are ; and most valid ones, too. No other theory
except that of reincarnation accounts for the wide diver-
gence that we find between man and man in their powers
to acquire knowledge. First, let us consider the process
by means of which knowledge is acquired. Suppose I go
into the street and see a dog. How do I know it is a dog?
I refer it to my mind, and in my mind are groups of all my
past experiences, arranged and pigeon-holed, as it were,
n— 15

m SWAM VrVBEANANDA’S WORKS

As soon as a new impression comes, I take it up and refer
it to some ot the old pigeon-holes, and as soon as I ftid a
group of the same impressions already existing, 1 jdaoe it
in that group, and I am satisfied. 1 know it is a dog; be-
cause it coincides with the impressions already there. When
I do not find the cognates of this new experience inside, I
become dissatisfied. When, not finding the cognates of an
impression, we become dissatisfied, this state (d the mind
is called “ignorance” ; but, when, finding the cognates of
an impression already existing, we become satisfied, this is
called “knowledge”. When one apple fell, men became
dissatisfied. Then gradually they found out the group.
What was the group they found? That all apples fell, so
they called it “gravitation”. Now we see that without a
fund of already existing mtperience, any new experience
would be impossible, for there would be nothing to which
to refer the new impression. So, if, as stnne of the Euro-
pean philosophen think, a child came into the world with
what they call tabula rasa, sudi a child would never attain
to any degree of intellectual power, because he would have
nothing to which to refer ^ new experiences. We tee
that the power of acquiring knowledge varies in eadt indi-
vidual, and this shows that eadt one of us has come with
his own fund of knowledge. Knowledge can <mly be got
in one way, the way of experience ; there is no other way
to know. If we have not experienced it in this life, we must
have experienced it in other lives. How is it that the fear
of death 'is everywhere? A little chicken is just out of an
egg and an eag^e comes, and the chicken flies in fear to
its mother. There is an old explanation (I dtould hardly
dignify it by such a name). It is called instinct. What
makes that little chicken just <mt dt the egg afraid to die?
How is it that as soon as a duckling hatdied by a hen
comes near water, it jumps into it and swims? It never
swam before, nee saw anything swim. Fettle call it
instino. It is a big word, W it leaves us whm we; wem

THE COSMOS

ttl

before. Let us study this phenomenon of instinct. A diild
begins to play on the piano. At first die must pay attrition
to every key she is fingering, and as she goes on and on for
months and years, the playii^ becomes almost involuntary,
instinctive. What was first done vdth conscious will does
not require later on an effort of the will. This is not yet a
complete proof. One half remains, and that is that almost
all the actions which are now instinctive can be brought
under the control of the will. Each muscle of the body can
be brought under control. This is perfectly well known.
So the proof is complete by this double method, that what
we how call instinct is degeneration of voluntary actions ;
therefore, if the analogy applies to the whole of creation, if
all nature is uniform, then what is instinct in lower ani*
mals, as well as in men, must be the degeneration of will.

Applying the law we dwelt upon under macrocosm,
that each involution presupposes an evolution, and each
evolution an involution, we see that instinct is involved
reason. What we call instinct in men or animals must
therefore be involved, degenerated, voluntary actions, and
voluntary actions are impossible without experience. Ex-
perience started that knowledge, and that knowledge is
there. The fear of death, the duckling taking to the water,
and all involuntary actions in the human being which have
beomie instinctive, are the results of past experiences. So
far we have proceeded very clearly, and so far the latest
science is with us. But here comes one more difficulty.
The latest scientific men are coming back to the ancient .
sages, and as for as they have done so, there is perfect
agreement. They admit that each man and each animal is
bom.- with a fund of mcpeiiehce, and that all these actions
in the mind are the result of past experience. “But what,”
they ask, "is the use of saying that that experience belongp
to the soul? Why not say it belongs to the body, and the
body alone? Why not say it is hereditary transmission?"
This is the last question. Why not say that all the expexi-

222

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

ence with which I am born is the resultant effect of all the
past experience of my ancestors? The sum total of the
experience from the little protoplasm up to the highest
human being is in me, but it has come from body to body
in the course of hereditary transmission. Where will the
difficulty be? This question is very nice, and we admit
some part of this hereditary transmission. How far ? As
far as furnishing the material. We, by our past actions,
conform ourselves to a certain birth in a certain body, and
the only suitable material for that body comes from the
parents who have made themselves fit to have that soul
as their offspring.

The simple hereditary theory takes for granted the
most astonishing proposition without any proof, that
mental experience can be recorded in matters, that mental
experience can be involved in matter. When I look at you.
in the lake of my mind there is a wave. That wave sub-
sides, but it remains in fine form, as an impression. We
understand a physical impression remaining in the body.
But what proof is there for assuming that the mental im-
pression can remain in the body, since the body goes to
pieces? What carries it? Even granting it were possible
for each mental impression to remain in the body, that
every impression, beginning from the first man down to
my father, was in my father’s body, how could it be trans-
mitted to me? Through the bioplasmic cell? How could
that be? , Because the father’s body does not come to the
child in toto. The same parents may have a number of
children ; then, from this theory of hereditary transmission,
where the impression and the impressed (that is to say,
material) are one, it rigorously follows that by the birth of
every child the parents must lose a part of their own im-
pressions, or, if the parents should transmit the whole of
their impressions, then, after the birth of the first child,
their minds would be a vacuum.

Again, if in the bioplasmic cell the infinite amount of

THE COSMOS

m

impressions from all time has entered, where and how is
it? This is a most impossible position, and until these
physiologists can prove how and where those impressions
live in that cell, and what they mean by a mental impres-
sion sleeping in the physical cell, their position cannot be
taken for granted. So far it is clear then, that this impres-
sion is in the mind, that the mind comes to take its birth
and rebirth, and uses the material which is most proper for
it, and that the mind which has made itself fit for only a
particular kind of body will have to wait until it gets that
material. This we understand. The theory then comes to
this, that there is hereditary transmission so far as fur-
nishing the material to the soul is concerned. But the soul
migrates and manufactures body after body, and each
thought we think, and each deed we do, is stored in it in
fine forms, ready to spring up again and take a' new shape.
When I look at you a wave rises in my mind. It dives
down, as it were, and becomes finer and finer, but it does
not die. It is ready to start up again as a wave in the
shape of memory. So all these impressions are in my mind,
and when I die the resultant force of them will be upon
me. A ball is here, and each one of us takes a mallet in
his hands and strikes the ball from all sides ; the ball goes
from point to point in the room, and when it reaches the
door it flies out. What does it carry out with it? The re-
sultant of all these blows. That will give it its direction.
So, what directs the soul when the body dies? The result-
ant, the sum total of all the works it has done, of the
thoughts it has thought. If the resultant is such that it has
to manufacture a new body for further experience, it Will
go to those parents who are ready to supply it with suit-
able material for that body. Thus, from body to body It
will go, sometimes to a heaven, and back again to earth,
becoming man, or some lower animal. This way it will go
on until it has finished its experience, and completed the
circle. It then knows its own nature, knows what it is, and

S24

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

^norance vanishes, its powers become manifest, it becomes
perfect ; no more is there any necessity for the soul to work
through physical bodies, nor is there any necessity for it to
work through finer, or mental bodies. It shines in its own
light, and is free, no more to be bom, no more to die.

We will not go now into the particulars of this. But I
will bring before you one more point with regard to this
theory of reincarnation. It is the theory that advances the
freedom of the human soul. It is the one theory that does
not lay the blame of all our weakness upon somebody else,
which is a common human fallacy. We do not look at our
own faults; the eyes do not see themselves, they see the
eyes of everybody else. We human beings are very slow
to recognise our own weakness, our own faults, so long as
we can lay the blame upon somebody else. Men in general
lay all the blame of life on their fellow-men, or, failing
that, on God, or they conjure up a ghost, and say it is fate.
Where is fate, and who is fate ? We reap what we sow.
We are the makers of our own fate. None else has the
blame, none has the praise. The wind is blowing ; those
vessels whose sails are unfurled catch it, and go forward
on their way, but those which have their sails furled do not
catch the wind. Is that the fault of the wind ? Is it the
fault of the merciful Father, whose wind of mercy is- blow-
ing without ceasing, day and night, whose mercy knows
no decay, is it His fault that some of us are happy and
some unhappy ? We make our own destiny. His sun shines
for the weak as well as for the strong. His vnnd blows for
saint and sinner alike. He is the Lord of all, the Father of
all, merciful, and impartial. Do you mean to say that Ife,
the Lord of creation, looks upon the petty things of our
life in the same light as we do ? What a degenerate idea
of God that would be! We are like little puppies, makiiy
life-and-death struggles here, and fodishly thinking that
even God Himself will take it as seriously as we do. He
knows what the poppies' (day means. Our attoapts to lay

IHB COSMOS

the blame on Him. making Him the punisher, and the
rewaider, are only foolish. He neither punishes, nor
rewards any. His infinite mercy is open to every one, at
all times, in all places, under all conditions, unfading,
unswerving. Upon tu depends how we use it. Upon us
depends how we utilise it. Blame neither man, nor God,
nor anyone in the world. When you find yourselves
suffering, blame your^lves, and try to do better.

This is the only solution of the problem. Those that
blame others— and, alasi the number of them is increas-
ing every day — are generally miserable with hdipless
brains ; they have brought themselves to that pass through
their own mistakes and blame others, but this does not
alter their position. It does not serve them in any way.
This attonpt to throw the blame upon others only weakens
them the more. Therefore, blame none for your own
faults, stand upon your own feet, and take the whole re-
sponsibility upon yourselves. Say, "This misery that I am
suffering is of my own doing; and that very thing proves
that it will have to be undone by me alone.” That which
I aeated, I can demolish ; that which is created by some
one else I shall never be able to destroy. Therefore,
stand up, be bold, be strong. Take the whole responsibilitv
on your own shoulders, and know that you are the creator
of your own destiny. All the strength and succour you
want is within yourselves. Therefore, make your own
future. “Let the dead past bury its dead." The infinite
future is before you, and you must always remember that
each word, thought, and deed, lays up a store for you and
that as the bad thoughts and bad works are ready to spring
upon you like tigen, so also there is the inspiring hope that
the good thoughts and good deeds are ready with the
power of a hundied thousand angels to defend you always
and for ever.

IMMORTAUTY

(Delivered in America)

What question has been asked a greater number of
times, what idea has led men more to search the universe
for an answer, what question is nearer and dearer to the
human heart, what question is more inseparably connected
with our existence, than this one, the immortality of the
human soul? It has been the theme of poets and sages, of
priests and prophets ; kings on the throne have discussed
it, beggars in the street have dreamt of it. The best of
humanity have approached it, and the worst of men have
hoped for it. The interest in the theme has not died yet,
nor will it die so long as human nature exists. Various
answers have been presented to the world by various
minds. Thousands, again, in every period of history have
given up the discussion, and yet the question remains fresh
as ever. Often in the turmoil and struggle of our lives we
seem to forget it, but suddenly some one dies — one,
perhaps, whom we loved, one near and dear to our hearts,
is snatched away from us — and the struggle, the din and
turmoil of the world around us, cease for a moment, and
the soul asks the old question, "What after this ?” "What
becomes of fhe soul ?”

All human knowledge proceeds out of experience;
we cannot know anything except by experience. All our
reasoning is based upon generalised experience, all our
knowledge is but harmonised experience. Looking around
us, what do we find ? A continuous change. The plant
comes out of the seed, grows into the tree, completes the
circle, and comes back to the seed. The animsd comes,
lives a ceruin time, dies, and completes the circle. So
does man. The mountains slowly but surely crumble

IMMORTAUry

ta

away, the rivers slowly but surely dry up,- rains come out
of the sea, and go back to the sea. Everywhere circles
are being completed, birth, growth, development, and
decay following each other with mathematical precision.
This is our everyday experience. Inside of it all, behind
all this vast mass of what we call life, of millions of forms
and shapes, millions upon millions of varieties, beginning
from the lowest atom to the highest spiritualised man, )ve
find existing a certain unity. Every day we find that the
wall that was thought to be dividing one thing and another
is being broken down, and all matter is coming to be
recognised by modern science as one substance, manifest-
ing in different ways and in various forms ; the one life that
runs through all like a continuous chain, of which all these
various forms represent the links, link after link, extending
almost infinitely, but of the same one chain. This is what
is called evolution. It is an old, old idea, as old as human
society, only it is getting fresher and fresher as human
knowledge is progressing. There is one thing more, which
the ancients perceived, but which in modern times is not
yet so clearly perceived, and that is involution. The seed
is becoming the plant ; a grain of sand never becomes a
plant. It is the father that becomes a child ; a lump of
clay never becomes the child. From what does this evolu-
tion come, is the question. What was the seed ? It was
the same as the tree. All the possibilities of a future tree
are in that seed ; all the possibilities of a future man are
in the little baby ; all the possibilities of any future life are
in the germ. What is this ? The ancient philosophers of
India called it involution. We find then, that every evolu-
tion presupposes an invtdution. Nothing can be evolved
which is not already there. Here, again, modem science
comes to our help. You know by mathematical reasoning
that the sum total of the energy that is displayed in the
universe is the same throughout. You cannot take away one
atom of matter or one foot-pound of force. You cannot

m

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

add to the universe one atom of matter at one foot-
pound of force. As such, evolution does not come out of
zero: then, where does it come from? Fn»n previous
involution. The child is the man involved, and the man
is the child evolved. The seed is the tree involved, and
the tree is the seed evolved. All the possibilities of life
are in the germ. The problem becomes a little clearer.
A^ to it the first idea ^ continuation of fife. From the
lowest protoplasm to the most perfect human being there
is really but one life. Just as in one life we have so many
various phases of expression, the protoplasm developing
into the baby, the child, the young man, the old man, so,
from that protoplasm up to the most perfect man we get
one continuous life, one chain. This is evolution, but we
have seen that each evcdution presupposes an involution.
The whole of this life which slowly manifests itself
evolves itself from the protoplasm to the perfected human
being— -the Incarnation of God on earth — ^the whole of this
series is but one life, and the whole of this manifestation
must have been involved in that very protoplasm. This
whole life, this very God on earth, was involved in it and
slowly came out, manifesting itself slowly, slowly, slowly.
The highest expression must have been there in the germ
state in minute form ; therefore this one force, this whole
chain, is the involution of that cosmic life which is every-
where. It is this one mass of intelligence which, from the
protoplasm 'up to the most perfected man, is slowly and
slowly uncoiling itself. Not that it grows. Take off all
ideas of growth from your mind. With the idea of growth
is associated something coming from outside, something
extraneous, which would give the lie to the truth that the
Infinite which lies latent in every life is independent cS
all external conditions. It can never grow ; It was always
there, and only manifests Itself.

The effect is the cause manifested. Hiere is no essen-
tial difference between the effea and the cause. Take this

niMORTALm

m

gtaas, for instance. There was the material, and that
material plus the win ot the manufacturer made the glass ;
and these two were its causes and are present in it. In
what form is the wiU present ? As adhesion. If the f<»ce
were not here, each particle would faU away. What is
the effect then ? It is the same as the cause, only taking a
different form, a different composition. When the cause
is changed and limited for a time, it becomes the effect.
We must remember this. Applying it to our idea of life,
the whole of the nunifestation of this one series, from the
protoplasm up to the most perfect man, must be the very
same thing as cosmic life. First it got involved and
became finer ; and out cff that fine something, which was
the cause, it has gone on evolving, manifesting itself, and
becoming grosser.

But the question of immortality is not yet- settled. We
have seen that everything in this universe is indestructible.
There is nothing new ; there will be nothing new. The
same series of manifestations are presenting themselves
alternately like a wheel, coming up and going down. All
motion in this universe is in the form of waves, succes*
sively rising and falling. Systems after systems are coming
out of fine forms, evolving themselves, and taking grosser
forms, again melting down, as it were, and going back to
the fine forms. Again they rise out of that, evolving for a
certain period and '^slowly going back, to the cause. So
with all life. Each manifestation of life is coming up and
then going back again. What goes down? The form.
The form breaks to pieces, but it comes up again. In one
sense bodies and forms even ate eternal. How ? Suppose
we take a number <ff dice and throw them, and they fall
in this ratio — 6 — 5— " 8 — 4. We take the dice up and throw
them again and ag^n; there must be a time when the
same numbers will come s^n ; the same combination
nuist cmne. Now eadi partide, each atom, that is in this
universe, I take for such a die, and these are being thrown

8S0

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

out and combined again and again. All these forms
before you are one combination. Here are the forms of a
glass, a table, a pitcher of water, and so forth. This is one
combination ; in time, it will all break. But there must
come a time when exactly the same combination comes
again, when you will be here, and this form will be here,
this subject will be talked, and this pitcher will be here.
An infinite number of times this has been, and an infinite
number of times this will be repeated. Thus far with the
physical forms. What do we find? That even the com-
bination of physical forms is eternally repeated.

A most interesting conclusion that follows from this
theory is the explanation of facts such as these: Some of
you, perhaps, have seen a man who can read the past life
of others and foretell the future. How is it possible for
any one to see what the future will be, unless there is a
regulated future ? Effects of the past will recur in the
future, and we see that it is so. You have seen the big
Ferris Wheel* in Chicago. The wheel revolves, and the
little rooms in the wheel are regularly coming one after
another ; one set of persons gets into these, and after they
have gone round the circle, they get out, and a fresh batch
'of people gets in. Each one of these batches is like one
of these manifestations, from the lowest animals to the
highest man. Nature is like the chain of the Ferris Wheel,
endless and infinite, and these little carriages are the
bodies or forms in which fresh batches of souls are riding,
going up higher and higher until they become perfect and
come out of the wheel. But the wheel goes on. And to
long as the bodies are in the wheel, it can be absolutely
and mathematically foretold where they will go, but not to

* “An amusement device consisting of a giant power-driven
steel wheel, revolvable on its stationary axle, and carrying a numbtv
of balanced passenger cars around its rim.'* — Webster, G. W. G.
Ferris erected the first of its kind for the Chicago Exposition of 189S.
In India we have a corresponding wooden device very common in
Eairt.-Ed.

IMMORTALITY

»1

ot the souls. Thus it is possible to read the past and the
future of nature with precision. We see, then, that diere
is recurrence of the same material phenomena at certain
periods, and that the same combinations have been taking
place through eternity. But that is not the immortality of
the soul. No force can die, no matter can be annihilated.
What becomes of it ? It goes on changing, backwards and
forwards, until it returns to the source from which it came.
There is no motion in a straight line. Everything moves
in a circle ; a straight line, infinitely produced, becomes a
circle. If that is the case, there cannot be eternal
degeneration for any soul. It cannot be. Everything must
complete the circle, and come back to its source. What
are you and I and all these souls ? In our discussion of
evolution and involution, we have seen that you and I
must be part of the cosmic consciousness, cosmic life,
cosmic mind, which got involved and we must complete
the circle and go back to this cosmic intelligence which is
God. This cosmic intelligence is what people call Lord, or
God, or Christ, or Buddha, or Brahman, what the materi-
alists perceive as force, and the agnostics as that infinite,
inexpressible beyond ; and we are all parts of that.

This is the second idea, yet this is not sufficient ; there
will be still more doubts. It is very good to say that there
is no destruction for any force. But all the forces and
forms that we see are combinations. This form before us

t

is a composition of several component parts, and so every
force that we .see is similarly composite. If you take the
scientific idea of force, and call it the sum total, the result-
ant of several forces, what becomes of your individuality ?
Everything that is a compound must sooner or later go
back to its component parts. Whatever in this universe is
the result of the combination of matter or force must
sooner or later go back to its components. Whatever is
the result of certain causes must die, must be destroyed.
It gets broken up, dispersed, and resolved back into its

m

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

components. Soul is not a iatct ; neither is it thought. It
is the manufacturer thought, but not thought its^ ; it
is the manufacturer of the body, but not the body. Why
so ? We see that the body cannot be the soul. Why not ?
Because it is not intelligent. A corpse is not intelligent, nor
a piece of meat in a butcher’s shop. What do we mean
by intelligence ? Reactive power. We want to go a little
more deeply into this. Here is a pitcher ; I see it. How 7
Rays of light from the pitcher enter my eyes, and make a
picture in my retina, which is carried to the brain. Yet
there is no vision. What the physiologists call the sensory
nerves carry this impression inwards. But up to thu there
is no reaction. The nerve centre in the brain carries the
impression to the mind, and the mind reacts, and as soon
as this reaction comes, the pitcher flashes before it. Take
a more commonplace example. Suppose you are listening
to me intently and a mosquito is sitting on the tip of your
nose and giving you that pleasant sensation which mos-
quitoes can give ; but you are so intent on hearing me that
you do not feel the mosquito at all. What has happened ?
The mosquito has bitten a certain part of your skin, and
certain nerves are there. They have carried a certain
sensation to the brain, and the impression is there, but the
mind, being otherwise occupied, does not react, so you
are not aware of the presence of the mosquito. When a
new impression comes, if the mind does not react, we
shall not be consdous of it, but when the reaction comes
we feel. We see, we hear, and so forth. With this
reaction comes illumination, as the S&mkhya philosophers
call it. We see that the body cannot illuminate, because
in the absence of attention no sensation is possible. Cases
have been known where, under peculiar conditions, a man
who had never learnt a particular language was found
able to speak it. Subsequent inquiries proved that the
man had, when a child, lived among people who spoke
that langua^ and the impressions were left in his brain.

nOfORTAUTV

as

Thoe impnsiona remained stored up there, until through
some cause the mind reacted, and illumination came, and
then the man was able to speak the language. This shows
that the mind alone is not sufficient, that the mind itsdf
is an instrument in the hands of someone. In the case of
that boy the mind contained that language, yet he did not
know it, but later there came a time when he did. It
shows that there is someone besides the mind ; and when
the boy was a baby, that someone did not use the power ;
but when the boy grew up, he took advantage it, and
used it. Pint, here is the body, second the mind, or
instrument of thought, and third behind this mind is the
Self of man. The Sanskrit word is Atman. As modem
philost^hers have identified thought with molecular
changes in the brain, they do not know how to explain
such a case, and they generally deny it. The mind is
intimately connected with the brain which dies every
time the body changes. The Self is the illuminator, and
the mind it the instrument in Its hands, and throug^i that
instrument It gets hdd the external instrument, and
thus comes perception. The external instruments get hold
of the impressions and carry them to the organs, for you
must remember always, that the eyes and ears are only
receivers— it is the internal orgaiu, the brain centres, which
act In Sanskrit these centres are called Indriyas, and
they carry sensatioiu to the mind, and the mind presorts
them further back to aimther state of th| mind, which in
Sartskrit is called Ghitta, and there they are organised into
will, and all these present them to the King of kings inside,
the Ruler on His throne, the Self of man. He then sees
and givm His orders. Hien die mind inunediately acts
on th^ organs, and the organs on the external body. The
real Perceiver, the real Ruler, the Govomor, the Creator,
the Muiipulator of all this, it die Self of man.

We see, then, that the Self of man is not the body,
ndther is It thought. It cannot be a compound. Why

tJtWkrv****

234

SWAMI VIVERANANDA'S WORKS

not ? Because everything that is a compound can be seen
or imagined. That which we cannot imagine or perceive,
which we cannot bind together, is not force or matter,
cause or effect, and cannot be a compound. The domain
of compounds is only so far as our mental universe, our
thought universe extends. Beyond this it does not hold
good ; it is as far as law reigns, and if there is anything
beyond law, it cannot be a compound at all. The Self of
man being beyond the law of causation, is not a com-
pound. It is ever free and is the Ruler of everything that
is within law. It will never die, because death means
going back to the component parts, and that which was
never a compound can never die. It is sheer nonsense to
say It dies.

We are now treading on finer and finer ground, and
some of you, perhaps, will be frightened. We have seen
that this Self, being beyond the little universe of matter
and force and thought, is a simple ; and as a simple It
cannot die. That which does not die cannot live. For life
and death are the obverse and reverse of the same coin.
Life is another name for death, and death for life. One
particular mode of manifestation is what we call life ;
another particular mode of manifestation of the same thing
is what we call death. When the wave rises on the top
it is life ; and when it falls into the hollow it is death. If
anything is beyond death, we naturally see it must also
be beyond life. I must remind you of the first conclusion
that the soul of man is part of the cosmic energy that
exists, which is God. We now find that it is beyond life
and death. You were never bom, and you will never die.
What is this birth and death that we see around us ? This
belongs to the body only, because the soul is omnipresent.
“How can that be ?” you may ask. “So many people are
sitting here, and you say the soul is omnipresent ?" What
is there, I ask, to limit anything that is beyond law,
beyond causation ? This glass is limited : it is not omni-

ll«liC»TAUnY

UB

promt, because the summiidiiig matter forces it to take
that form, docs not attow it to expand. It is conditioned
by everytiiing around it, and is, therefore, limited. But
that which is beyond law, where there is nothing to act
upon ity how can that be limited ? It must be omni-
present. You are everywhere in the universe. How is it
then that I am bom and I am going to die, and all that ?
That is the talk of ignorance, hallucination of the brain.
You were neither bom, nor will you die. You have had
neither birth, nor will have rebirth, nor life, nor incarna-
tion, nor anything. What do you mean by coming and
going ? All shallow nonsense. You are everywhere. Then
what is this coming and going ? It is the hallucination
produced by the change of this fine body which you call
the mind. That is going on. Just a little speck of cloud
passing before the sky. As it moves on and on, it may
create the delusion that the sky moves. Sometimes you
see a cloud moving before the moon, and you think that
the moon is moving. When you are in a train you think
the land is flying, or when you are in a boat, you think the
water moves. In reality you are neither going nor coming,
you are not being bom, nor going to be reborn ; you are
infinite, ever-present, beyond all causation, and ever-fiee.
Such a question is out of place, it is arrant nonsense.
How could there be mortality when there was no birth ?

One step more we will have to take to come to a
logical conclusion. There is no half-way house. You are
metaphysicians, and there is no crying quarter. If then
we are beyond all law, we roust be omniscient, ever-
blessed ; all knowledge must be in us and all power and
blessedness. Certainly. You are the omniscient, omni-
present being of the universe. But of such beings can
there be many ? Can there be a hundred thousand millions
of omnipresent beings ? Certainly not. Then, what be-
comes of us all? You are only one ; there is only one
such Self, and that One Self is you. Standing behind this
Il-'ie

t./ "ft

falkfiahai. 4' ui^Uu JUbviM*

2S6

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

little nature is what we call the Soul. There is only One
Being, One Existence, the ever-blessed, the omnipresent,
the omniscient, the birthless, the deathless. "Through His
control the sky expands, through His control the air
breathes, through His control the sun shines, and through
His control all live. He is the Reality in nature. He is the
Soul of your soul, nay, more, you are He, you are one
with Him." Wherever there are two, there is fear, there
is danger, there is conflict, there is strife. When it is all
One, who is there to hate, who is there to struggle with ?
When it is all He, with whom can you flght ? This
explains the true nature of life ; this explains the true
nature of being. This is perfection, and this is God. As
long as you see the many, you are under delusion. “In
this world of many he who sees the One, in this ever-
changing world he who sees Him who never changes, as
the Soul of his own soul, as his own Self, he is free, he is
blessed, he has reached the goal." Therefore know that
thou art He ; thou art the God of this universe, “Tat Tvam
Asi” (That thou art). All these various ideas that I am a
man or a woman, or sick or healthy, or strong or weak,
or that 1 hate or I love, or have a little power, are but
hallucinations. Away with them! What makes you
weak ? What makes you fear ? You are the One Being
in the universe. What frightens you ? Stand up then and
be free. Know that every thought and word that weakens
you in this world is the only evil that exists. Whatever
makes men weak and fear is the only evil that should be
shunned. What can frighten you ? If the suns come
down, and the moons crumble into dust, and systems after
systems are hurled into annihilation, what is that to you ?
Stand as a rock ; you are indestructible. You are the
Self, the God of the universe. Say — ^“I am Existence
Absolute, Bliss Absolute, Knowledge Absolute, I am He,"
and like a lion breaking its cage, break your chain and be
free for ever What frightens you, what holds you down ?

IMMORTALITY

2S7

Only ignorance and delusion ; nothing else can bind you.
You are the Pure One, the Ever-blessed.

Silly fools tell you that you are sinners, and you sit
down in a corner and weep. It is foolishness, wickedness,
downright rascality to say that you are sinners I You are
all God. See you not God and call Him man ? There-
fore, if you dare, stand on that — ^mould your whole life
on that. If a man cuts your throat, do not say no, for
you are cutting your own throat. When you help a poor
man, do not feel the least pride. That is worship for you,
and not the cause of pride. Is not the whole universe
you ? Where is there any one that is not you ? You are
the Soul of this universe. You are the sun, moon, and
stars, it is you that are shining everywhere. The whole
universe is you. Whom are you going to hate or to hght ?
Know, then, that thou art He, and model your whole life
accordingly ; and he who knows this and models his life
accordingly will no more grovel in darkness.

THE ATMAN

(Delivered in America)

Many of you have read Max Miiller’s celebrated book,
Three Lectures on the Vedanta Philosophy, and some
of you may, perhaps, have read, in German, Professor
Deussen’s book on the same philosophy. In what is beii^
written and taught in the West about the religious thought
of India, one school of Indian thought is principally repre-
sented, that which is called Advaitism, the monistic side of
Indian religion ; and sometimes it is thought that all the
teachings of the Vedas are comprised in that one system of
philosophy. There are, however, various phases of Indian
thought ; and, perhaps, this non-dualistic form is in the
minority as compared with the other phases. From the
most ancient times there have been various sects of
thought in India, and as there never was a formulated or
recognised church or any body of men to designate the
doctrines which should be believed by each school, people
were very free to choose their own form, make their own
philosophy and establish their own sects. We, therefore,
find that from the most ancient times India was full of
religious sects. At the present time, I do not know how
many hundreds of sects we have in India, and several fresh
ones are coming into existence every year. It seems that
the religious activity of that nation is simply inexhaustible.

Of these various sects, in the first place, there can be
made two main divisions, the orthodox and the unortho-
dox. Those that believe in the Hindu scriptures, the
Vedas, as eternal revelations of truth, are called orthodox,
and those that stand on other authorities, rejecting the
Vedas, are the heterodox in India. The chief modem
unorthodox Hindu sects are the Jains and the Buddhists.
Among the orthodox some declare that the scriptures are

TOE ATMAN

>10

of mudi higher authcMrity than reason ; others again say
that only dutt portion of the scriptures which is rational
diould be taken and the rest rejected.

Of the three orthodox divisions, the Sknkhyas, die
Naiy&yikas, and the Mimdmsakas, the former two,
although they existed as philosophical schools, failed to
f(mn any sect. The one sect that now really covers India
is that of the later Mimamsakas or the Vedantists. Their
philosophy is called Vedantism. All the schools of Hindu
philosophy start from the Vedanta or Upanishads, but
the monists took the name to themselves as a speciality,
because they wanted to base the whole of their theology
and philosophy upon the Vedanta and nothing else. In
the course of time the Vedanta prevailed, and all the
various sects of India that now exist can be r^erred to
one or other of its schools. Yet these schools are not
unanimous in their opinions.

We find that there are three principal variations
among the Vedantists. On one point they all agree, and
that is that they all believe in God. All these Vedantists
also believe the Vedas to be the revealed word of God,
not exactly in the same sense, perhaps, as the Christians or
the Mohammedans believe, but in a very peculiar sense.
Their idea is that the Vedas are an expression of the
knowledge of God, and as God is eternal. His knowledge
is eternally with Him, and so are the Vedas eternal.
There is another common ground nf belief: that of
creation in cycles, that the whole of creation appears and
disappears ; that it is projected and becomes grosser and
grosser, and at the end of an incalculable period of
time -it becomes finer and finer, when it dissolves and
subsides, and then comes a period of rest. Again it
begins to appear and goes throu^ the same process.
They postulate the existence of a material which they
call Ak4dia, iriiich is something like the ether of the
scioitists, and a power whirii diey call Prina. About

240

SWAMI VIVERANANDA'S WORKS

this Prana they declare that by its vibration the universe
is produced. When a cycle ends, all this manifesution of
nature becomes finer and finer and dissolves into that
Akasha which cannot be seen or felt, yet out of which
everything is manufactured. All the forces that we see in
nature, such as gravitation, attraction, and repulsion, or
as thought, feeling, and nervous motion — all these various
forces resolve into that Prana, and the vibration of the
Prana ceases. In that state it remains until the beginning
of the next cycle. Prana then begins to vibrate, and that
vibration acts upon the Akasha, and all these forms are
thrown out in regular succession.

The first school I will tell you about is styled the
dualistic school. The dualists believe that God, who is
the creator of the universe and its ruler, is eternally
separate from nature, eternally separate from the human
soul. God is eternal ; nature is eternal ; so are all souls.
Nature and the souls become manifested and change, but
God remains the same. According to. the dualists, again,
this God is personal in that He has qualities, not that He
has a body. He has human attributes ; He is merciful,
He is just. He is powerful. He is almighty. He can be
approached, He can be prayed to. He can be loved.
He loves in return, and so forth. In one word, He is a
human God, only infinitely greater than man ; He has none
of the evil qualities which men have. “He is the repos-
itory of an infinite number of blessed qualities*’ — that is
their definition. He cannot create without materials, and
nature is the material out of which He creates the
whole universe. There are some non-Vedantic dualists,
called “Atomists“, who believe that nature is nothing but
an infinite number of atoms, and God’s will, acting upon
these atoms, creates. The Vedantists deny the atomic
theory ; they say it is perfectly illogical. The indivisible
atoms are like geometrical points without parts or
magnitude ; but something without parts or magnitude, if

THE ATMAN

multiplied an infinite number of times, will remain the
same. Anything that has no parts will never make
something that has parts ; any number of zeros added
together will not make one single whole number. So, if
these atoms are such that they have no parts or magnitude,
the creation of the universe is simply impossible out of such
atoms. Therefore, according to the Vedantic dualists,
there is what they call indiscrete or undifferentiated nature,
and out of that God creates the universe. The vast mass
of Indian people ate dualists. Human nature ordinarily
cannot conceive of anything higher. We find that ninety
per cent of the population of the earth who believe in
any religion are dualists. All the religions of Europe and
Western Asia are dualistic ; they have to be. The ordinary
man cannot think of anything which is not concrete. He
naturally likes to ding to that which his intellect can
grasp. That is to say, he can only conceive of higher
spiritual ideas by bringing them down to his own level.
He can only grasp abstract thoughts by making them
concrete. This is the religion of the masses all over the
world. They believe in a God who is entirely separate
from them, a great king, a high, mighty monarch, as it
were. At the same time they make Him purer than the
monarchs of the earth : they give Him all good qualities
and remove the evil qualities from .Him. As if it were
ever possible for good to exist without evil ; as if there
could be any coiuxption of lig^t without a conception of
datkncssi

With all dualistic theories the first difficulty is, how is
it possible that under the rule of a just and merciful God,
the reposit(M7 of an infinite number of good qualities,
there can be so many evils in this world ? This question
arose in all dualistic religions, but the Hindus never in-
vented a Satan as an answer to it. The Hindus with one
accord laid the blame on man, and it was easy for them
to do so. Why ? Because, as I have just now told you.

SWAMl VIVEXANANDA'S WOMU

they did not believe that souls were oeated out of nothing.
We see in this life that we can diape and form our hiture ;
every one of us, every day, is trying to shape the mcnrow.
Today we fix the fate of the morrow ; tomorrow we
shall fix the fate of the day after, and so on. It it quite
logical that this reasoning can be pushed badtward too.
If by our own deeds we shape our destiny in the future,
why not apply the same rule to the past ? If, in an infinite
chain, a certain number of links are alternately repeated,
then, if one of these groups of links be explained, we can
explain the whole chain. So, in this infinite length of
time, if we can cut off one portion and explain that por-
tion and understand it, then, if it be true that nature is
uniform, the same explanation must apply to the whole
chain of time. If it be true that we are working out our
own destiny here within this short q>ace of time, if it be
true that everything must have a cause as we see it now,
it must also be true that that which we are now is the
effect of the whole of our past ; therefore, no other person
is necessary to shape the destiny ot mankind but man
himself. The evils that are in the world are caused by
none else but ourselves. We have caused all this evil ;
and just as we constantly see misery resulting from evil
actions, so can we also see that much of the existing
mise^ in the world is the effect of the past wickedness of
man. Man alone, therefore, according to this theory, is
responsiUe. God is not to blame. He, the eternally
merciful Father, is not to blame at all. “We reap what
we sow.”

Another peculiar doctrine the dualists is, that every
soul must eventually come to salvation. No one will be
left out. Through various vicissitudes, tlurough various
sufferings and enjoyments, each one of them will come out
in the end. Ckmie out of what ? The oim common idea
of all Hindu sects is that all souls have to get out of this
universe. Neither the universe which we see and fod.

THE ATMAN

MS

nor even an imaginary one, can be right, the real one,
becaiue both are mixed up with good and eviL Accord-
ing to the dualists, there is beyond this universe a place
foil of happiness and good only ; and when that place is
reached, there will be no more necessity of being bora
and reborn, of living and dying ; and this idea is very dear
to them. No more disease there, and no more death.
There will be eternal happiness, and they will be in the
presence of Gcxl for all time and enjoy Him for ever.
They believe that all beings, from the lowest worm up
to the highest angels and gods, will all, sooner or later,
attain to that world where there will be no more misery.
But our world will never end ; it goes on infinitely, al-
though moving in waves. Although moving in cycles it
never ends. The number of souls that are to be saved,
that are to be perfected, is infinite. Some are in plants,
some are in the lower animals, some are in men, some
are in gods, but all of them, even the highest gods, arc
imperfect, are in bondage. What is the bondage? The
necessity of being bora and the necessity of dying. Even
the highest gods die. What are these gods? They mean
certain states, certain oflSces. For instance, Indra the
king of gods, means a certain <^ce ; scune soul which
was very high has gone to fill that post in this cycle, and
after this cycle he will be born again as man and come
down to this earth, and the man who is very good in this
cycle will go and fill that post in the next cycle. So
with all these gods; they are certain offices which have
been filled alternately by millions and millions souls,
who, after filling those offices, came down and became
men. Those who do good works in this world and help
others, but with an eye to reward, hoping to readi heaven
or to get the praise of their fdlow-men, must when they
die, reap the benefit of those good works — ^they become
these go^ But that is not salvation ; salvaticm never will
come through hope of reward. M^atever man desires

244

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

the Lord gives him. Men desire power, they desire
prestige, they desire enjoyments as gods, and they
get these desires fulfilled, but no effect of work can be
eternal. The effect will be exhausted after a certain
length of time; it may be aeons, but after that it will
be gone, and these gods must come down again and
become men and get another chance for liberation.
The lower animals will come up and become men,
tjccome gods, perhaps, then become men again, or go
back to animals, until the time when they will get rid
of all desire for enjoyment, the thirst for life, this clinging
on to the "me and mine”. This "me and mine” is the
very root of all the evil in the world. If you ask a
dualist, “Is your child yours?” he will say, “It is God’s.
My property is not mine, it is God’s.” Everything should
be held as God’s.

Now, these dualistic sects in India are great vegeta-
rians, great preachers of non-killing of animals. But their
idea about it is quite different from that of the Buddhist.
If you ask a Buddhist, "Why do you preach against
killing any animal?” he will answer, "We have no right
to take any life;” and if you ask a dualist, "Why do you
not kill any animal?” he says, “Because it is the Lord’s.”
So the dualist says that this "me and mine” is to be
applied to God and God alone ; He is the only “me” and
everything is His. When a man has come to the state
when he Has no "me and mine,” when everything is given
up to the Lord, when he loves everybody and is ready
even to give up his life for an animal, without any desire
for reward, then his heart will be purified, and when the
heart has been purified, into that heart will come the
love of God. God is the centre of attraction for every
soul, and the dualist says, "A needle coveted up with
day will not be attracted by a magnet, but as soon as
the clay is washed off, it will be attracted.” God is the
magnet and human soul is the needle, and its evil

THE ATMAN

24S

workSt the dirt and dust that cover it. As soon as the soul
is pure it will by natural attraction come to God and
remain with Him for ever, but remain eternally separate.
The perfected soul, if it wishes, can take any form;
it is able to take a hundred bodies, if it wishes,
or have none at all, if it so desires. It becomes
almost almighty, except that it cannot create ; that power
belongs to God alone. None, however perfect, can
manage the affairs of the universe ; that function belongs
to God. But all souls, when they become perfect, become
happy for ever and live eternally with God. This is the
dualistic statement.

One other idea the dualists preach. They protest
against the idea of praying to God, “Lord, give me this
and give me that." They think that should not be done.
If a man must ask some material gift, he.should ask inferior
beings for it ; ask one of these gods, or angels or a per-
fected being for temporal things. God is only to be loved.
It is almost a blasphemy to pray to God, "Lord, give me
this, and give me that." According to the dualists, there-
fore, what a man wants, he will get sooner or later, by
praying to one of the gods ; but if he wants salvation, he
must worship God. This is the religion of the masses
of India.

The real Vedanta philosc^hy begins with those known
as the qualified non-dualists. They n\^e the statement
that the effect is never different from the cause ; the effect
is but the cause reproduced in another form. If the uni-
verse is the effect and God the cause, it must be God
Himself — it cannot be anything but that. They start with
the as$erti(Hi that God is both the efficient and the material
cause of the universe ; that He Himself is the creator, and
He Himself is the material out of which the whole of
nature is projected. The word “creation” in your
language has no equivalent in Sanskrit, because there is
no sect in India which believes in creation, as it is regarded

246

SWAMl VIVEKANAN&VS WORKS

in the West, as something coming out of nothing. It
seems that at one time there were a few that had stmie
such idea, but they were very quickly alenced. At the
present time I do not know of any sect that believes this.
What we mean by creation is projection of that which
already existed. Now, the whole universe, according to
this sect, is God Himself. He is the material of the uni-
verse. We read in the Vedas, "As the Umaniibhi (spider)
spins the thread out of its own body, . . . even so the
whole universe has come out of the Being.”

If the effect is the cause reproduced, the question is:
"How is it that we find this material, dull, unintelligent
universe produced from a God, who is not material, but
who is eternal intelligence? How, if the cause is pure and
perfect, can the effect be quite different?” What do these
qualified non-dualists • say ? Theirs is a very peculiar
theory. They say that these three existences, God, nature,
and the soul, are one. God is, as it were, the Soul, and
nature and souls are the body df God. Just as I have
a body and 1 have a soul, so the whole universe and all
souls are the body of God, and God is the Soul of souls.
Thus, God is the material cause of the universe. The
body may be changed — ^may be young or old, strong or
weak — ^but that does not affect the soul at all. It is the
same eternal existence, manifesting through the body.
Bodies come and go, but the soul does not change.
Even soothe whole universe is the body God, and in
that sense it is God. But the change in the universe does
not affect God. Out of this material He creates the
universe, and at the end of a cycle His body becomes
finer, it contracts; at the beginning of another cycle it
becomes expanded again, and out of it evolve all these
different worlds.

Now both the dualists and the qualified non-dualists
admit that the soul is by its nature pure, but through its
own deeds it becomes impure. The qualified non-dualists

THE ATMAN

147

express it more beautifully than the dualists, by
saying that the soul’s purity and perfection become
contracted and again becmne manifest, and what we
are now trying to do is to remanifest the intelligence,
the purity, the power which is natural to the soul.
Souls have a multitude of qualities, but not that of
almightiness or all-knowingness. Every wicked deed
contracts the nature of the soul, and every good
deed expands it, and these souls, are all parts of God.
“As from a blazing fire fly millions of sparks of the
same nature, even so from this Infinite Beii^;, God,
these souls have come." Each has the same goal. The
God of the qualified non-dualists is also a Personal God,
the repository of an infinite number blessed qualities,
only He is interpenetrating everything in the universe. He
is immanent in everything and everywhere ; , and when
the scriptures say that God is everything, it means that
God is interpenetrating everything, not that God has
become the wall, but that God is in the wall. There is not
a particle, not an atom in the universe where He is not.
Souls are all limited; they are not omnipresent. When
they get expansion (rf their powers and become perfect,
there is no more birth and death for them ; they live with
God for ever.

Now we come to Advaitism, the last and, what we
think, the fairest flower of philosophy and religion that any
country in any age has produced, where human thought
attains its highest expression and even goes beyond the
mysteiy which seems to be impenetrable. This is the non-
dualistic Vedantism. It is too abstruse, too elevated to
be the religion of the masses. Even in India, its birth-
place, where it has been ruling supreme for the last three
thousand years, it has not been able to permeate the
masses. As we go on we shall find that it is difficult for
even the most thoughtful man and woman in any country
to understand Advaitism. We have made ourselves so

248

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

weak ; we have made ourselves so low. We may make
great claims, but naturally we want to lean on somebody
else. We are like little, weak plants, always wanting a
support. How many times I have been asked for a ''com-
fortable religion I ” Very few men ask for the truth, fewer
still dare to learn the truth, and fewest of all dare to follow
it in all its practical bearings. It is not their fault ; it is all
weakness of the brain. Any new thought, especially of a
high kind, creates a disturbance, tries to make a new
channel, as it were, in the brain matter, and that unhinges
the system, throws men off their balance. They are used
to certain surroundings, and have to overcome a huge
mass of ancient superstitions, ancestral superstition, class
superstition, city superstition, country superstition, and
behind all, the vast mass of superstition that is innate in
every human being. Yet there are a few brave souls in
the world who dare to conceive the truth, who dare to
take it up, and who dare to follow it to the end.

What does the Advaitist declare? He says, if there
is a God, that God must be both the material and the effi-
cient cause of the universe. Not only is He the creator,
but He is also the created. He Himself is this universe.
How can that be? God, the pure, the spirit, has become
the universe? Yes; apparently so. That which all igno-
rant people see as the universe does not really exist.
What are you and I and all these things we see? Mere
self-hypnotism ; there is but one Existence, the Infinite,
the Ever-blessed One. In that Existence we dream all
these various dreams. It is the Atman, beyond all, the
Infinite, beyond the known, beyond the knowable ; in and
through That we see the universe. It is the only Reality.
It is this table ; It is the audience before me ; It is the
wall ; It is everything, minus the name and form. Take
away the form of the table, take away the name ; what
remains is It. The Vedantbt does not call It either He
or She — these are fictions, delusions of the human brain —

THE ATNtAN

there is no sex in the soul. People who are under illusion^
who have become like animals^ see a woman or a man ;
living gods do not see men or 'women. How can they who
are beyond everything have any sex idea? Everyone and
everything is the Atman — the Self — the sexless, the pure,
the ever-blessed. It is the name, the form, the body,
which are material, and they niake all this difference. If
you take away these two differences of name and form, the
whole universe is one ; there are no two, but one every-
where. You and I are one. There is neither nature, nor
God, nor the universe, only that one Infinite Existence,
out of which, through name and form, all these are
manufactured. How to know the Knower? It cannot be
known. How can you see your own Self? You can only
reflect yourself. So all this universe is the reflection of
that One Eternal Being, the Atman, and as the reflection
falls upon good or bad reflectors, so good or bad images
are cast up. Thus in the murderer, the reflector is bad
and not the Self. In the saint the reflector is pure. The
Self — the Atman — is by Its own nature pure. It is the
same, the one Existence of the universe that is reflecting
Itself from the lowest worm to the highest and most perfect
being. The whole of this universe is one Unity, one
Existence, physically, mentally, morally and spiritually.
We are looking upon this one Existence in different forms
and creating all these images upon It. To the being who
has limited himself to the condition of man. It appears
as the world of man. To the being who is on a higher
plane of existence. It may seem like heaven. There is
but one Soul in the universe, not two. It neither comes
nor goes. It is neither born, nor dies, nor reincarnates.
How can It die? Where can It go? All these heavens,
all these earths, and all these places are vain imaginations
of the mind. They do not exist, never existed in the past,
and never will exist in the future.

I am omnipresent, eternal. Where can 1 go? Where

250

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA*S WORKS

am I not ali«^y? 1 am reading this bocdi of nature.
Page after page 1 am finishing and turning over, and one
dream of life after another goes away. Another ps^ of
life is turned over; another dream of life conies, and it
goes away, rolling and rolling, and when 1 have finished
my reading, I let it go and stand aside, I throw away thtf
book, and the whole thing is finished. What does the
Advaitist preach? He dethrones all the gods that ever
existed, or ever will exist in the universe and places on
that throne the Self of man, the Atman, higher than the
sun and the moon, higher than the heavens, greater than
this great universe itself. No books, no scriptures, no
science can ever imagine the glory of the Self that appears
as man, the most glorious God that ever was, the only
God that ever existed, exists, or ever will exist. I am to
wonhip, therefore, none but myself. “I worship my
Self,” says the Advaitist. To whom shall I bow down?
I salute my Self. To whom shall I go for help? Who can
help me, the Infinite Being of the universe? These are
foolish dreams, hallucinations ; who ever helped any one?
None. Wherever you see a weak man, a dualist, weeping
and wailing for help from somewhere above the skies, it is
because he does not know that the skies also are in him.
He wants help from the skies, and the help comes. We
see that it comes ; but it comes from within himself, and
he mist^es it as coming from without. Sometimes a sick
man lying on his bed may hear a tap on the door. He
gets up and opens it and finds no one there. He goes
back to bed, and again he hears a tap. He gets up and
opens the door. Nobody is there. At last he finds that
it was his own heartbeat which he fancied was a knock
at the door. Thus man, after this vain search after various
gods outside himself, completes the circle, and comes
back to the point from whidi he started — the human soul,
and he finds that the God whom he was seardiing in hill
and dale, whom he was sedung in every btotdc, in every

THE ATMAN

251

tonple, in churches and heavens, that God whom he was
even imagining as Mtting in heaven and ruling the world,
is his own Self. I am He, uid He is 1. None but I was
God, and this little I never existed.

Yet, bow could that perfect God have been dduded ?
He never was. How could a perfect God have been
dreaming? He never dreamed. Truth never dreams.
The very questitm as to whence this illusion arose is
absurd. Illusion arises from illusion alone. There will be
no illusion as soon as the truth is seen. Illusion always
rests upon illusion : it never rests upon God, the Truth,
the Atman. You are never in illusion ; it is illusion that is
in you, before you. A cloud is here ; another comes and
pushes it aside and takes its place. Still another comes and
pushes that <me away. As before the eternal blue sky,
clouds of various hue and colour come, remain, for a short
time and disappear, leaving it the same eternal blue, even
so ate you, eternally pure, eternally perfect. You are the
veritable Gods of the universe ; nay, there are not two—
there is but One. It is a mistake to say, "you and I" • say
"I". It is I who am eating in millions of moudu ; how can
1 be hungry? It is I who am working throvqph an infinite
number of hands ; how can I be Inactive ? It is I who
am living the life ot the whole universe; where is death
fur me ? I am beyond all life, beyond all death. Where
shall I seek for freedom ? I am free by my nature. Who
can bind me — the God of this universe^ The scriptures of
the world are but little maps, wanting to delineate my
f^ory, who am the only existence of the universe. Then
what are these botdu to me ? Thus says the Advaitist.

"Know the truth and be free in a moment.” All the
darkness will then vanish. When man has seen himself
as tme with the In^te Bang of the universe, when all
sqsarateness has ceased, when all men and women, all
gods and aiqiels, all animals and jdants, and the whole
universe have mdted into that Oneness, dien all fear

n— 17

252

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WOHKS

disappears. Can I hurt myself ? Can I kill myself ? Cut 1
injure myself ? Whom to fear ? Can you fcv yourself ?
Then will all sorrow disappear. What can cause me
sorrow ? I am the One Existence of the universe. Then
all jealousies will disappear ; of whom to be jealous ? OC
myself ? Then all bad feelings disappear. Against whom
can I have bad feeling ? Against myself ? There is none
in the universe but 1. And this is the one way, says the
Vedantist, to Knowledge. Kill out this differentiation,
kill out this superstition that there are many. "He Who
in this world of many sees that One, be whd in this mass
of insentiency sees that one Sentient Being, he who in
this world of shadows catches that Reality, unto him
belongs eternal peace, unto none else, unto none else."

These are the salient points of the three steps which
Indian religious thought has taken in regard to God. We
have seen that it began with the Personal, the extra-cosmic
God. It went from the external to the internal cosmic
body, God immanent in the universe, and ended in identi-
fying the soul itself with that God, and making one Soul,
a unit of all these various manifestations in the universe.
This is the last word of the Vedas. It begins with dualism,
goes through a qualified monism and ends in perfect
monism. We know how very few in this world can come
to the last, or even dare bdieve in it, and fewer still dare
act according to it. Yet we know that therein lies the
explanation of all ethics, of all morality and all spiritual-
ity in the universe. Why is it that every <Hie says, "Do
good to others ?” Where is the explanation ? Why is it that
all great men have preached the brotherhood of mankind,
and greater men the brotherhood cff all lives? Because
whether they were conscious of if or not, behind all that,
through all their irrational and personal supentitions, was
peering forth the eternal light of the Self denying all mani-
foldness, and asserting that the whole universe is but one.

Ag^in, the last word gave us one universe, which

THE ATMAN

2S9

through the senses we see as matter, through the intellect
as souls, and through the spirit as God. To the man who
throws upon himself veils, which the world calls wicked-
ness and evil, this, very universe will change and become a
hideous place ; to another man, who wants enjoyments,
this very universe will change its appearance and become
a heaven, and to the perfect man the whole thing will
vanish and become his own Self.

Now, as society exists at the present time, all these
three stages are necessary; the one does not deny the
other, one is simply the fulfilment of the other. The
Advaitist nr the qualified Advaitist does not say that
dualism is wrong ; it is a right view, but a lower one. It is
on the way to truth ; therefore let everybody work out his
own vision of this universe, according to his own ideas.
Injure none, deny the position of none ; take man where
he stands and, if you can, lend him a helping hand and
put him on a hi^er platform, but do not injure and do
not destroy. All will come to truth in the long run.
“‘When all the desires of the heart will be vanquished, then
this very mortal will become immortal” — ^then the very
man will become God.

THE ATMAN : ITS BONDAGE AND
FREEDOM

(Delivered in America)

According to the Advaita philosophy; there is only one
thing real in the universe, which it calls Brahman ; every-
thing else is unreal, manifested and manufactured out o£
Brahman by the power of M&yd. To reach back to that
Brahman is our goal. We are, each one of us, that
Brahman, that Reality, plus this Maya. If we can get rid
of this Maya or ignorance, then we become what we
really are. According to this philosophy, each man
consists of three parts — ^the body, the internal organ or the
mind, and behind that, what is called the Atman, the Self.
The body is the external coating and the mind is the
internal coating of the Atman who is the real perceiver,
the real enjoyer, the being in the body who is working
the body by means of the internal organ or the mind.

The Atman is the only existence in the human body
which is immaterial. Because it is immaterial, it cannot be
a cmnpound, and because it is not a compound, it does not
obey the law of cause and effect, and so it is immorul.
That which is immortal can have no beginning because
everything with a beginning must have an end. It also
follows that it must be formless ; there cannot be any form
without matter. Everything that has form must have a
beginning and an end. We have none of us seen a form
which had not a beginning and will not have an end.
A form comes out of a combination of force and matter.
This chair has a peculiar form, that is to say a certain
quantity of matter is acted upon by a certain amount of
force and made to assume a particular shape. The shape
is the result of a combination of matter and force. The

'THE AIMAN : ITS BONDAGE k FltEEDOM SSI

combination cannot be eternal ; there must come to every
combination- a time when it will disscdve. So all fonns
have a beginnii^ and an end. We know our body will
perish ; it had a beginning and it will have an end. But
the Sdf having no form, cannot be bound by the law of
beginning and end. It is otisting from infinite time ; just
as time is eternal, so is the' Self of man eternal. Secondly,
it must be all-pervading. It is only form that is condition-
ed and limited by space; that which is formless cannot
be confined in space. So, according to Advaita Vedanta,
the Self, the Atman, in you, in me, in every one, is omni-
present. You are as much in the sun now as in this earth,
as much in England as in America. But the Self acts
through the mind and the body, and where they are, its
action is visible.

Each work we do, each thought we think, produces an
impression, called in Sanskrit Samskdra, upon the mind
and the sum total of these impressions becomes the
tremendous force which is called "character”. The charac-
ter of a man is what he has created for himself ; it is the
result of the mental and physical actions that he has done
in his life. The sum total of the Samskaras is the force
which gives a man the next direction after death. A man
dies ; t^ body falls away and goes back to the elements ;
but the Sanukaras remain, adhering to the mind which,
being made of fine material, does not dissolve, because
the finer the material, the more persistent it is. But the
mind also dissolves, in the long run, and that is what we are
struggling for. In this connection, the best illustration that
coma to my mind is diat the whirlwind. Different
currents of air coming from different directions meet and
at the meeting-point beoune. united and go on rotating ;
as they rotate, they form a body of dust, drawing in bits
of paper, straw, etc., at one place, only to drop them and
go on to another, and so go on rotating, raising and form-
ing bodies out of the materials whidi are before them.

256

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Even so the forces, called Prilna in Sanskrit, come together
and form the body and the mind out of matter, nnd
move on until the body falls down, when they raise other
materials to make another body, and when this falls,
another rises, and thus the process goes on. Force cannot
travel without matter. So when the body falls down, the
mind-stuff remains. Prana in the form of Samskaras acting
on it ; and then it goes on to another point, raises up
another whirl from fresh materials, and begins another
motion ; and so it travels from place to place until the
force is all spent ; and then it falls down, ended. So when
the mind will end, be broken to pieces entirely, without
leaving any Samskara, we shall be entirely free, and until
that time we are in bondage; until then the Atman is
covered by the whirl of the mind, and imagines it is being
taken from place to place. When the whirl falls down,
the Atman finds that It is all-pervading. It can go where
It likes, is entirely free, and is able to manufacture any
number of minds or bodies It likes ; but until then It can
go only with the whirl. This freedom is the goal towards
which we are all moving.

Suppose there is a ball in this room, and we each have
a mallet in our hands and begin to strike the ball, giving
it hundreds of blows, driving it from point to point, until
at last it flies out of the room. With what force and in
what direction will it go out ? These will be determined
by the for<^es that have been acting upon it all through the
room. All the different blows that have been given will
have their effects. Each one of our actions, mental and
physical, is such a blow. The human mind is a ball which
is being hit. We are being hit about this room of the
world all the time, and our passage out of it is determined
by the force of all these blows. In each case, the speed
and direction of the ball is determined by the hits it has
received ; so all our actions in this world will determine
our future birth. Our present birth, therefore, is the result

THE ATMAN : ITS BONDAGE (e FREEDOM

257

of our past. This is one case: suppose 1 give you an end
less chain, in which there is a black link and a white link
alternately, without beginning and without end. and sup*
pose I ask you the nature of the chain. At fint you will
find a difficulty in determining its nature, the chain
being infinite at both ends, but slowly you find out it is a
chain. You soon discover that this infinite chain is a repe-
tition of the two links, black and white, and these mtdti-
plied infinitely become a whole chain. If you know the
nature of one of these links, you know the nature of the
whole chain, because it is a perfect repetition.' All our
lives, past, present, and future, form, as it were, an infinite
chain, without beginning and without end, each link of
which is one life, with two ends, birth and death. What
we are and do here is being repeated again and again,
with but little variation. So if we know these two links,
we shall know all the passages we shall have to pass
through in this world. We see, therefore, that our passage
into this world has been exactly determined by our pre-
vious passages. Similarly we are in this world by our own
actions. Just as we go out with the sum total of our
present actions upon us, so we see that we come into it
with the sum total of our past actions upmi us ; that which
takes us out is the very same thing that brings us in. What
brings us in ? Our past deeds. What takes us out ? Our
own deeds here, and so on and on we go. Like the
caterpillar that takes the thread from nts own mouth and
builds its cocoon and at last finds itself caught inside the
cocoon, we have bound ourselves by our own actions, we
have thiown the network of our actions around ourselves.
We have set the law of causation in motion, and we find
it hard to get ourselves out of it. We have set the wheel
in motion, and we are being crushed under it. So this
philosojdiy teaches os that we are uniformly being bound
by our own actions, good or bad.

The Atman never cmnes nor goes, is never born nor

<58

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

diet. It ii nature moving before the Atman, and the
reflection this motion is on the Atman ; and the Atman
ignorantly thinks it is moving, and not nature. When the
Atman thinks that, it is in bondage ; but when it comes to
find it never moves, that it is omnipresent, then freedom
comes. The Atmsm in bondage is c^ed Jiva. Thus you
see that when it is said that the Atman comes and goes, it
is said only for facility of understanding, just as for con*
venience in studying astronomy you are asked to suppose
that the sun moves round the earth, though such is not the
case. So the Jiva, the soul, comes to higher or lower
states. This is the well-known law of leincamation ; and
this law binds all creation.

People in this country think it too horrible that man
should come up from an animal. Why ? What will be
the end of these millions of animals ? Are they nothing ?
If we have a soul, so have they, and if they have none,
neither have we. It is absurd to say that man alone has a
soul, and the animals none. I have seen men worse than
animals.

The human soul has sojourned in lower and higher
forms, migrating from one to another, according to the
Samskaras or impressions, but it is only in the highest form
as man that it attains to freedom. The man form is higher
than even the angel form, and of all forms it is the
highest ; man is the highest being in creation, because he
attains to fieedom.

All this universe was in Brahman, and it was, as it
were, projected out of Him, and has been moving on to
go back to the source from which it was projected, like the
dectricity which comes out of the dynamo, completes the
circuit, and returns to it. The same is the cate with the
soul. Projected from Brahman, it passed through all sorts
of vegetable and animal forms, and at last it is in man, and
man is the nearest approach to Brahman. To go back to
-Brahman from which we have been projected is the great

THE ATMAN : IT» BONDA<% k FREEDOM 259

•trug^ ot life. Whether people Imow it w not does not
matter. In the univerK* whatever we see motion, of
strugi^ in minerals or plants or animals is an effort to
come back to die centre and be at rest. There was an
equilibrium, and that has been destroyed ; and all parts
and atmns and molecules are struggling to find their lost
equilibrium again. In this struggle they are combining
and re-forming, giving rise to all the wonderful phenomena
of nature. All struggles and competitions in animal life,
plant life, and everywhere else, all social struggles and
wars are but expressions cd that eternal struggle to get
back to that equilibrium.

The going from birth to death, this travelling, is what
is called Sams^ in Sanskrit, the round of birth and death
literally. All creation, passing through this round, will
sooner or later become foee. The question may be raised
that if we all shall come to fre^om, why should we
struggle to attain it? If every one is going to be free, we
will sit down and wait. It is true that every being will
become free, sooner or later ; no one can be lost. Nothing
can come to destruction; everything must come up. If
that is so, what is the use of our struggling? In the
first place, the struggle is the only means that will bring
us to the centre, and in the second place, we do not know
why we struggle. We have to. "Of thousands of men
some are awakened to the idea that they will become
free." The vast masses of mankind* are content with
material things, but there are some who awake, and want
to get back, who have had enough of this playing, down
here. These struggle consciously, while the rest do it
unconsciously.

The alpha and omega of Vedanta philosophy is to
**give up the world,” givii^ up the unreal and taking the
real. Those who are enamoured of the world may ask,
"Why should we attempt to get put of it, to go back to the
centre? Suppose we have aU come from God, but we find

260

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

this world is pleasurable and nice; then why should we
not rather try to get more and more of the world ? Why
should we try to get out of it ?" They say, look at the
wonderful improvements going on in the world evoy day,
how much luxury is being manufactured for it. This is
very enjoyable. Why should we go away, and strive for
something which is not this? The answer is that the world
is certain to die, to be broken into pieces and that many
times we have had the same enjoyments. All the forms
which we are seeing now have been manifested again and
again, and the world in which we live has been here many
times before. I have been here and talked to you many
times before. You will know that it must be so, and the
very words that you have been listening to now, you have
heard many times before. And many times more it will
be the same. Souls were never different, the bodies have
been constantly dissolving and recurring. Secondly, these
things periodically occur. Suppose here are three or four
dice, and when we throw them, one comes up five, another
four, another three, and another two. If you keep on
throwing, there must come times when those very same
numbers will recur. Go on throwing, and no matter how
long may be the interval, those numbers must come again.
It cannot be asserted in how many throws they will come
again ; this is the law of chance. So with souls and their
associations. However distant may be the periods, the
same combinations and dissolutions will happen again and
again. The same birth, eating and drinking, and then
death, come round again and again. Some never find
anything higher than the enjoyments of the world, but
those who want to soar higher find that these enjoyments
arc never final, are only by the way.

Every form, let us say, beginning from the little worm
and ending in man, is like one of the cars the Chicago
Ferris Wheel which is in motion all the time, but the
occupants change. A man goes into a car, moves with the

THE ATMAN : ITS BONDAGE tc FREEDOM

261

wheel, and comes out. The wheel goes on and on. A
soul enters one form, resides in it for a time, then leaves
it and goes into another and quits that again for a third.
Thus the round goes on till it comes out of the wheel and
becomes free.

Astonishing powers of reading the past and the future
of a man’s life have been known in every country and
every age. The explanation is that so long as the Atman
is within the realm of causation — though its inherent
freedom is not entirely lost and can assert itself, even to
the extent of taking the soul out of the causal chain, as it
dues in the case of men who become free — its actions are
greatly influenced by the causal law and thus make it
possible for men, possessed with the insight to trace the
sequence of effects, to tell the past and the future.

So long as there is desire or want, it is a sure sign that
there is imperfection. A perfect, free being cannot have
any desire. God cannot want anything. If He desires.
He cannot be God. He will be imperfect. So all the talk
about God desiring this and that, and becoming angry and
pleased by turns is babies’ talk, but means nothing.
Therefore it has been taught by all teachers, "Desire
nothing, give up all desires and be perfectly satisfied.’’

A child comes into the world crawling and without
teeth, and the old man gets out without teeth and crawling.
The extremes are alike, but the one has no experience of
the life before him, while the other has gone through it all.
When the vibrations of ether are very low, we do not see
light, it is darkness; when very high, the result is also
darkness. The extremes generally appear to be the same,
though one is as distant from the other as the poles. The
wall has no desires, so neither has the perfect man. But
the wall is not sentient enough to desire, while for the
perfect man there is nothing to desire. There are idiots
who have no desires in this world, because their brain is
imperfect. At the same time, the highest state is when

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA*S WORKS

we have no detires, but the two are opposite poles ot the
s^e existence. One is near the animal, and the other
near to God.

THE REAL AND THE APPARENT MAN

(Delivertd in New York)

Here we stand, and our eyes look forward sometimes
miles ahead. Man has been doing that since he b^n to
think. He is always lotddng fmrward, looking ahead. He
wants to know where he goes even after the dissolution
of his body. Various theories have been propounded,
system after system has been brought foiward to suggest
explanations. Some have been rejeaed, while others have
been accepted, and thus it will go on, so long as man
is here, so long as man thinks. There is some truth
in each of these systems. There is a good deal of what
is not truth in all of them. I shall try to place before
you the sum and substance, the result, of the inquiries
in this line that have been made in India. I shall try to
harmonise the various thoughts on the subject, as they
have come up from time to time among Indian philoso-
phers. I shall try to harmonise the psychologists and the
metaphysicians, and, if possible, I shall harmonise them
with modem scientific thinkers also.

The one theme of the Vedanta philosophy is the
search after unity. The Hindu mind 4oes not care for the
particular ; it is always after the general, nay, the universal.
"What is that, by knowing which everything else is to
be known?" That is the one theme. "As through the
knowledge of one lump of clay all thht is of day is known,
so, what is that, by knowing which this whole universe
itsdf will be known?” That is the one search. The whole
of this universe, according to the Hindu philosophers, can
be resolved into one material, whidi they call AkAsha.
Everything that we see around us, fed, toudi, taste, is
simply a differentiated manifestation of this Akasha. It is

264

SWAMI VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

all-pervading, fine. All that we call solids, liquids, or
gases, figures, forms, or bodies, the earth, sun, moon, and
stars— everything is composed of this Akasha.

What force is it which acts upon this Akasha and man-
ufactures this universe out of it? Along with Akasha exists
universal power ; all that is power in the universe, mani-
festing as force or attraction — nay, even as thought — ^is but
a different manifestation of that one power which the
Hindus call Prdna, This Prana, acting on Akasha, is creat-
ing the whole of this universe. In the beginning of a cycle,
this Prana, as it were, sleeps in the infinite ocean of Aka-
sha. It existed motionless in the beginning. Then arises
motion in this ocean of Akasha by the action of this Prana,
and as this Prana begins to move, to vibrate, out of this
ocean come the various celestial systems, suns, moons,
stars, earth, human beings, animals, plants, and the mani-
festations of all the various forces and phenomena. Every
manifestation of power, therefore, according to them, is
this Prana. Every material manifestation is Akasha. When
this cycle will end, all that we call solid will melt away into
the next form, the next finer or the liquid form ; that will
melt into the gaseous, and that into finer and more uniform
heat vibrations, and all will melt back into the original
Akasha, and what we now call attraction, repulsion, and
motion, will slowly resolve into the original Prana. Then
this Prana is said to sleep for a period, again to emerge and
to throw out all those forms; and when this period will
end, the whole thing will subside again. Thus this process
of creation is going down, and coming up, oscillating back-
wards and forwards. In the language of modem science,
it is becoming static during one period, and during another
period it is becoming dynamic. At one time it becomes
potential, and at the next period it becomes active. This
alteration has gone on throi^h eternity.

Yet, this analysis is only partial. This much has been
known even to modem phyncal science. Beyond that.

THE REAL tc THE APPARENT MAN

£65

the research of physical science cannot reach. But the
inquiry does not st(q> in consequrace. We have not yet
found that one, by knowing which everything else will be
known. We have resolved the whole universe into two
components, into what are called matter and energy, or
what the ancient philosophers of India called Akasha and
Prana. The next step is to resolve this Akasha and the
Prana into their origin. Both can be resolved into the still
higher' entity which is called mind. It is out of mind,
the Mahat, the universally existing thought-power, that
these two have been produced. Thought, is a still finer
manifestation of being than either Akasha or Prana. It is
thought that splits itself into these two. The universal
thought existed in the beginning, and that manifested,
changed, evolved itself into these two Akasha and Prana:
and by the combination of these two the whole universe
has been produced

We next come to psychology. I am looking at you.
The external sensations are brought to me by the eyes ;
they are carried by the sensory nerves to the brain. The
eyes are not the oigans of vision. They are but the external
instruments, because if the real organ behind, that which
carries the sensation to the brain, is destroyed> I may
have twenty eyes, yet I cannot see you. The picture
on the retina may be as complete as possible, yet I shall
not see you. Therefore, the organ i^ different from its
instruments ; behind the instruments, the eyes, there must
be the organ. So it is with all the sensations. The nose is
not the sense of smdl : it is but the instrument, and behind
it is the organ. With every sense we have, there is first
the external instrument in the physical body ; behind that,
in the same physical body, there is the organ ; yet these
ait not suflBcient. Suppose I am talking to you, and you
are listening to me with close attention. Something
hajqiens, say, a bell rii^ ; you will not, perhaps, hear the
hdl ring. The pulsations of that sound came to your ear.

266

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S W<HLX8

Struck the tympanum, the impression was carried by the
nerve into the brain ; if the whole process was complete up
to carrying the impulse to the brain, why did you not hear?
Something else was wanting-^-the mind was not attached to
the organ. When the mind detaches itself from the organ,
the organ may bring any news to it, but the mind will not
receive it. When it attache itself to the organ, then alone
is it possible for the mind to receive the news. Yet, even
that does not complete the whole. The irutruments may
bring the sensation from outside, the organs may carry it
inside, the mind may attach itself to the organ, and yet the
perception may not be complete. One more factor is
necessary; there must be a reaction within. With this
reaction comes knowledge. That which is outside sends,
as it were, the current of news into my brain. My mind
takes it up, and presents it to the intellect, which groups it
in relation to pre-received impressions and sends a current
of reaction, and with that reaction comes perception. Here,
then, is the will. The state of mind whi^ reacts is called
Buddhi, the intellect. Yet, even this does not cmnplete
the whole. One step more is required. Suppose here is
a camera and there is a sheet ot doth, and I try to throw
a picture on that sheet. What am 1 to do? 1 am to guide
various rays of light through the camera to fall upon the
sheet and become grouped there. Smnething is necessary
to have the picture thrown upon, which does not move.
I cannot form a picture upon something which is moving;
that something must be stationary, because the rays of
light which I throw on it are movit^ and these moving
rays of light, must be gathered, uni&ed, co-ordinated, and
completed upon something whidi is stationary. Similar is
the case with the sensations which these organs of ours are
carrying inside and presenting to the mind, and whidi the
mind in its turn is presenting to the intellect. Thu process
will not be complete unless there is something permanent
in the background upon which die ^ctnn^ as it were, may

rm MAL h rm appailent man mt

be fonoed* upon wbich we may unify all the different
impresaions. What is it that gives unity to the changing
whole of our being ? What is it that keeps up the identity
of the moving thing mcmient after moment ? What is it
upon whidi all our different impressions are pieced
together, upon which the perceptions, as it were« come
together, reudc, and form a united whole ? We have
found that to serve this end there must be something, and
we also see that that something must be, relatively to the
body and mind, motionless. The sheet of doth upcm
which the camera throws the picture is, relatively to the
rays of light, motionless, else there will be no picture.
That is to say, the perceiver must be an individual. This
something upon which the mind is painting all these
pictures, this something upon which our sensations, carried
by the mind and intdlect, are placed and grouped and
formed into a unity, is what is called the soul of man.

We have seen that it is the universal cosmic mind that
splits itself into the Akasha and Prana, and beyond mind
we have found the soul in us. In the universe, behind the
universal mind, there is a Soul that exists, and it is called
God. In the individual it is the soul of man. In this
universe, in the cosmos, just as the universal mind becomes
evolved into Akasha and Prana, even so, we may find that
the Universal Soul Itself becomes evolved as mind. Is it
really so with the individual man? Is his mind the creator
of his body, and his soul the creator o^ his mind? That is
to say, are his body, his mind, and his soul three different
existences or are they three in one or, again, are they
different states of existence of the same unit being? We
shall gradually try to find an answer to this question. The
first step that we have now gained is this: here is this
external body, behind this external body are the organs,
the mind, the intellect, and behind this is the soul. At the
first step, we have found, as it were, that the soul is
separate from the body, sqiarate from the mind itself.

11—18

S68

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

Opinions in the idigioos wotld become divided at this
point, and the departure is this. All those rdigioas views
which generally pass under the name of dualiun hold
that this soul is qualified, that it is cS. various qualities,
that all feelings of enjoyment, pleasure, and pain mliy
belong to the soul. The non-dualists deny that the soul
has any sudi qualities ; they say it is unqualified.

Let me first take up the dualists, and try to present to
you their position with regard to the soul and its destiny ;
next, the system that contradicts them : and lastly, let us
try to find the harmony which non-dualism will bring to us.
This soul of man, because it is separate firom the mind and
body, because it is not composed of Akasha and Prana,
must be immortal. Why ? What do we mean by mortality?
Decomposition. And that is only possible for things that
are the result of composition ; anything that is made of two
or three ingredients must become decomposed. That alone
which is not the result composition can never become
decomposed, and, therefore, can never die. It is immortal.
It has been existing throughout eternity; it is uncreate.
Every item of creation is simply a composition ; no one
ever saw creation come out of nothing. All that we know
of creation is the combination of already existing things
into newer forms. That being so, this soul of man, being
simple, must have been existing for ever, and it will exist
for ever. When this body falls off, the soul lives <m.
According to the Vedantists, when this body dissdves, the
vital forces of the man go back to his mind and the mind
becomes dissolved, as it were, into the Prana, and that
Prana enters into the soul of man, and the soul of man
comes out, clothed, as it were, with what they call the
fine body, the mental body, or spiritual body, as you
may like to call it. In this body are the Samsk&ras of the
man. What are the Samskaras? This mind is like a
lake, and every thought is like a wave upon that hdie.
Just as in the lake waves rise and then &dl down and

' THE REAl. tc THE AWARENT MAN m

disappear, so these thought-waves are conthioally rmng in
the mind-stuff and then disappearii^, but they do not dis-
appear for ever. They become finer and finer, but they
are all there, ready to start up at another time when called
upon to do so. Memory is simply calling back into wave-
form some of those thoughts which have gone into that
finer state of existence. Thus, everything that we have
thought, every action that we have done, is lodged in the
mind ; it is all there in fine form, and when a man dies, the
sum total of these impressions is in the mind, which again
works upon a little fine material as a medium. The soul,
clothed, as it were, with these impressions and the fine
body, passes out, and the destiny of the soul is guided by
the resultant of all the different forces represented by the
different impressions. According to us, there ate three
different goals for the soul.

Those that are very spiritual, when they die, follow
the solar rays and reach what is called the solar sphere,
through which they reach what is called the lunar sphere,
and through that they reach what is called the sphere of
lightning, and there they meet with another soul who is
already blessed, and he guides the new-comer forward to
the highest of all spheres, which is called the Brahmaloka,
the sphere of Brahmii. There these souls attain to omnis-
cience and omnipotence, become almost as powerful and
all-knowing as God Himself; and they reside there for
ever, according to the dualisu, or, according to the non-
dualists, they bectnne one with the Universal at the end
of the cycle. The next class of persons, who have been
doing good work with selfidi motives, are carried by the
results of their good works, when they die, to what is
called lunar sphere, where there are various heavens, and
there they acquire fine bodies, the bodies of gods. They
become gods and live there and enjoy the blessing of
heaven for a long period ; and after that period is finished,
the bid Karma is again upon them, and so they fall back

Z70

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

again to the earth ; they ct»ne down throu(^ the sphere!
of air and clouds and all these various regions, and, at
last, reach the earth through raindrops. Thore on the
earth they attach themselves to some cereal whidi is
eventually eaten by some man who is fit to supply them
with material to make a new body. The last class,
namely, the wicked, when they die, become ghosts or
demons, and live somewhere midway between the lunar
sphere and this earth. Some try to disturb mankind, some
are friendly; and after living there for some time they
also fall back to the earth and become animals. After
living for some time in an animal body they get released,
and come back, and become men again, and thus get.
one more chance to work out their salvation. We see,
then, that those who have nearly attained to perfection,
in whom only very little of impurity remains, go to the
Braihmaloka throu^ the rays of the sun ; those who were
a middling sort of people, who did some good work here
with the idea of going to heaven, go to the heavens in
the lunar sphere and there obtain god-bodies; but they
have again to become men and so have one more chance
to become perfect. Those that are very wicked become
ghosts and demons, and then they may have to become
animals; after that they become men again and get
another chance to perfect themselves. This earth is
called the Karma-Bhumi, the sphere o( Karma. Here
alone map makes his good or bad Karma. When a man
wants to go to heaven and does good works for that pur-
pose, he becomes as good and does not as such store up
any bad Karma. He just enjoys the effects of the good
work he did on earth ; and when this good Karma is
exhausted, there comes upon him the resultant force of all
the evil Karma he had previously stewed up in Hfe, and that
brings him down again to this earth. In the same way,
those that become ghosts remain in that state, not giving
rise to fresh Karma, but suffer the evil results of their past

THS REAL tc THE APPARENT MAN

m

miideeds. and later on remain for a time in an animal body
without causing any fresh Karma. Wben that period is
dnished, diey too become men a^n. The states of
reward and punishment due to good and bad Karmas are
devoid of the force generating fredi Karmas ; they have
<mly to be enjoyed or suffered. If there is an extraor-
dinarily good or an extraordinarily evil Karma, it bears
fruit very quickly. For instance, if a man has been doing
many evil things all his life, but does one good act, the
result of that good act will immediately appear, but when
that result has been gone through, all the evil acts must
produce their results also. All men who do certain good
and great acts, but the general tenor of whose lives has
not been correct, will become gods; and after living for
some time in god-bodies, enjoying the powers of gods,
they will have again to become men ; when the power of
the good acts is thus finished, the old evil comes up to be
worked out. Those who do extraordinarily evil acts have
to put on ghost and devil bodies, and when the effect of
those evil actions is exhausted, the little good action which
ronains assodated with them, makes them again become
men. The way to Brahmaloka, from which there is no
more fall or return, is called the Devayina, i.e. the way
to God ; the way to heaven is known as Pitriyiina, i.e. the
way to the fathers.

Man, therefore, according to the Vedanta philosq>hy.
is the greatest being that is in the univVrse, and this world
of work the best place in it, because only herein is* the
greatest and the best chance for him to become perfect.
Angels (Mr gods, whatever you may call them, have all to
bectnne men, if they want to become perfect. This is the
great centre, the wonderful poise, and the wondoful
opportunity— this human life.

We come next to the other aspect' of philosq»hy.
There are Buddhists who deny the whole theory of the soul
that I have just now been propounding. ‘What use is

*72

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

there,” says the Buddhist, “to assume something as the
substratum, as the background of this body and mind ?
Why mi^y we -not allow thoughts to run on ? Why admit
a third substance beyond this organism, composed of mind
and body, a third substance called the soul ? What is its
use ? Is not this organism sufficient to explain itself ?
Why take anew a third something ?" These arguments
are very powerful. This reasoning is very strong. So far
as outside research goes, we see that this organism is a
sufficient explanation of itself — at least, many of us see it
in that light. Why then need there be a soul as substra*
turn, as a something which is neither mind nor body but
stands as a background for both mind and body ? Let
there be only mind and body. Body is the name of a
stream of matter continuously changing. Mind is the name
of a stream of consciousness or thought continuously
changing. What produces the apparent unity between
these two ? This unity does not really exist, let us say.
Take, for instance, a lighted torch, and whirl it rapidly
before you. You see a circle of fire. The circle does not
really exist, but because the torch is continually moving,
it leaves the appearance of a circle. So there is no unity
in this life; it is a mass of matter continually rushing
down, and the whole of this matter you may call one
unity, but no more. So is mind ; each thought is separate
from every other thought ; it is only the rushing current
that leaves behind the illusion of unity ; there is no need
of a third substance. This universal phenomenon of body
and mind is all that really is; do not posit something
behind it. You will find that this Buddhist thought has
been taken up by certain sects and schools in modem
times, and all of them claim that it is new — their own in>
vention. This has been the central idea of most of the Bud-
dhistic philosophies, that this world is itself all-sufficient :
that you need not ask for any background at all ; aU that
is, is this sense-univene : what is the use of thinking

THE HEAL ft THE APPARENT MAN m

•ometliiiig as a sttpport to this untvene? EveryUiii^ is
the aggn^te of qpualides; why should there be a
hypothetical substance in adikh they diould inhere ? The
idea of substance comes from the rapid interchange <A
qualities* not from something unchangeable sidiich exists
behind them. We see how wonderful some of these argu*
ments are, and they appeal easily to the ordinary experi*
enoe of humanity^n fact, not one in a million can think
of anything other than phenomena. To the vast majority
of men nature appears to be only a changing, whirling,
combinings minglii^ mass of change. Few of us ever
have a glimpse the calm sea behind. For us it is always
lashed into waves ; this universe appears to us only as a
tosnng mass ot waves. Thus we find these two opinions.
One is that there is SMiething behind both body and
mind whidi is an unchangeable and immovable sub-
stance; and the other is that there is no such thing as
immovability or unchangeability in the universe ; it is all
change and nothing but change. The solution of this
difference comes in the next step of thought, namely, the
non-dualisti&

It says that the dualists are right in finding something
behind all, at a baxkground which does not diange; we
cannot conceive change without there being something
unchangeable. We can only conceive of anything that is
changeable, by knowing something whidi is lest Change-
able, and this also must appear more changeable in
comparison with something dte which is less changeable,
and so on and on, until we are bound to admit that there
must be something which never changes at all. The
whtde of this manifestation must have been in a state of
non-manifestation, calm and silent, being the balance of
opposing forces, so to say, when no force operated,
because force acts when a disturbance of the equilibrium
comes in. The imiverse fe ever hurrying on to return to
that state of equilibrium agam. If we are cotain any

274

SWAia VIVEKAMANDA'S WOKU

fact whatsoever, we ate certain of this. Whai the duaKsta
claim that thme is a scnnething which does not change,
they are perfectly right, but their analysis that it is an
undeilying something which is neither the body nor the
mind, a something separate from both, is wrong. So hut as
the Buddhists say that the whole universe is a mass of
change, they are perfectly right; so long as I am sepa<
rate from the universe, so long as I stand badt and look at
something before me, so long as there are two things— the
looker-on and the thing looked ,upon — it will appear
always that the universe is one of change, continuously
changing all the time. But the reality is that there is both
change and changelessness in this universe. It is not that
the soul and the mind and the body are three separate
existences, for this organism made of these three is really
one. It is the same thing which appears as the body, as
the mind, and as the thing beyond mind and body, but
it is not at the same time all these. He who sees the body
does not see the mind even, he who sees the mind does
not see that which he calls the soul, and he who sees the
soul — ^for him the body and mind have vanished. He who
sees only motion never sees absolute calm, and he who
sees absolute calm — ^for him motion has vanished. A rope
is taken for a snake. He who sees the rope as the snake,
for him the rope has vanished, and when the delusion
ceases and he looks at the rope, the snake has vanished.

Ther( is then but one all-comprehendii^ existence,
and that one appears as manifold, lliis Self or Soul or
Substance is all that exists in the universe. That Sdf or
Substance or Soul is, in the language of non-dualism, the
Brahman .appearing to be manifold by the interposition
of name and form. Look at the waves in the sea. Not one
wave is really different from the sea, but what makes the
wave apparently different ? Name and form : the form of
the wave and the name which we give to it, ‘Vave*’.
This is what makes it different famn the sea. When name

THE REAL R im APPARENT MAN m

and Iona go, it is the same Ka. Who can make any mal
difference between the wave and the sea ? So this whole
universe is that one Unit Existence ; name and form have
created all these various differences. As when the sun
shines upon millions of globules of water, upon each
particle is seen a most perfect representation of the sun,
so the one Soul, the one Self, the one Existence of the
universe, being reflected on all these numerous globules
of varying names and forms, appears to be various. But
it is in reality only one. There is no *T’ nor “you” ; it is
all one. It is either all ”1” or all “you”. This idea of
duality, of two, is entirely false, and the whole universe,
as we ordinarily know it, is the result of this false knowl*
edge. When discrimination comes and man finds there
are not two but one, he finds that he is himself this
universe. “It is I who am this universe as it now exists,
a continuous mass of change. It is I who am beyond
all changes, beyond all qualities, the eternally perfect,
the eternally blessed.”

There is, therefore, but one Atman, one Self, eternally
pure, eternally perfect, unchangeable, unchanged; it has
never changed: and all these variotu changes in the
universe are but appearances in that one Self.

Upon it name and form have painted all these dreams ;
it is the f(nm that makes the wave diffaent from the sea.
Suppose the wave subsides, will the form remain ? No,
it will vanish. The existence of thcT wave was entirely
dependent upon the existence of the sea, but the existence
of the sea was not at all dependent upon the existence of
the wave. The form remains so long as the wave remains,
but as soon as the wave leaves it, it vanishes, it cannot
remain. This name and form is the outcome of what is
called Miyi. It is this Map that is making individuals,
making one appear different from another. Yet it has no
existence. Map caiuiot be said to exist. Form cannot
be said to exist, because it depends upon the existence of

276

SWAMi VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

another thing. It cannot be said as not to exist, seeing that
it makes all this difference. Aconding to the Advaita
philosophy, then, this Maya or ignorance — or name and
form, or, as it has been called in Europe, "time, space, and
causality” — ^is out of this one Infinite Existence shoadng
us the manifoldness of the universe; in substance, this
universe is one. So long as any one thinks that Uiere are
two ultimate realities, he if mistaken. When he has come
to know that there is but one, he is right. This is what is
being proved to us every day, on the physical plane, on
the mental plane, and also on the spiritual plane. Today
it has been demonstrated that you and I, the sun, the
moon, and the stars are but the different names of different
spots in the same ocean of mattor, and that this matter is
continuously changing in its configuration. This partide
of energy that was in the sun several months ago may be
in the human being now; tomorrow it may be in an
animal, the day after tomorrow it may be in a plant. It is
ever coming and going. It is all one unbroken, infinite
mass of matter, only differentiated by names and forms.
One point is called the sun ; another, the mooh ; another,
the stars; another, man; another, animal; another,
plant; and so on. And all these names are fictitious;
they have no reality, because the whole is a continuously
changing mass of matter. This very same universe, from
another standpoint, is an ocean of thought, where eadi
one of us is a point called a particular mind. You are a
mind, 1 9m a mind, everyone is a mind; and the very
same universe viewed from the standpoint of knowledge,
when the eyes have been deared of ddusions, when the
mind has become pure, appears to be the unbroken
Absolute Being, the ever pure, the unchangeable, the
immortal.

What then becomes of all this threeCidd esdrattdogy
of the dualist, that when a man dies he goes to heaven, or
goes to this or that s|diere, and that the widced perstma

THE lUBAL U THE APPARENT MAN W

( '

J(

become gboNs, and become animak, and lo forth ? None
comes and imne goes^^says the non-dualist. How can you
come and go ? You are infinite ; where is the place for
you to go ? In a certain sdiool a number of litde children
were being examined. The examiner had foolishly put all
setts of difkult queNions to the little children. Among
othen thae was this question: “Why does not the earth
f^ ?” His intention was to bring out the idea of gravita-
tion or some other intricate scientific truth frmn these
chfldren. Most them could not even understand the
question, and so they gave all sorts of wrong answers.
But one bright little girl answered it with another ques-
tion: “Where shall it fall ?“ The very question of the
examiner was nonsense on the face of it. There is no
up and down in the universe; the idea is only relative.
So it is with regard to the soul ; the very question of birth
and death in regard to it is utter nonsense. Who goes
and who comes ? Where are you not ? Where is the
heaven that you are not in already ? Omnipresent is the
Self of man. Where is it to go ? Where is it not to go ?
It is everywhere. So all this childish dream and puerile
illusion of birth and death, of heavens and higher heavens
and lower worlds, all vanish immediately for the perfect.
For the nearly perfect it vanishes after showing them the
several scenes up to Brahmaloka. It . continues for the
ignorant.

How is it that the whole world believes in going to
heaven, and in dying and being bom*? 1 am studying a
book, page after page is being read and turned over.
Another page comes and is turned over. Who changes ?
Who onnes and goes ? Not I, but the book. This whole
nature is a book before the soul, chapter after chapter is
being read and turned over, and every now and then a
scene opens. That is read and turned over. A fresh one
comes, but the soul is ever the same — etenul. It is nature
that is changirq;, not die soul of man. This never chaises.

S78

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Birth and death are in nature, not in you. Yet the
ignorant are deluded ; just as we under delusion think that
the sun is moving and not the earth, in exactly the same
way we think that we are dying, and not nature. These
are all, therefore, hallucinations. Just as it is a halludna*
tion when we think that the fields are moving and not' the
railway train, exactly in the same manner is the hallucina-
tion of birth and death. When men are in a certain frame
of mind, they see this very existence as the earth, as the
sun, the moon, the stars ; and all those who are in the
same state of mind see the same things. Between you and
me there may be millions of beings on different planes of
existence. They will never see us, nor we them ; we only
see those who are in the same state of mind and on the
same plane with us. Those musical instruments respond
which have the same attunement of vibration, as it were ;
if the state of vibration, which they call “man-vibration”,
should be changed, no longer would men be seen here ;
the whole “man-universe” would vanish, and instead of
that, other scenery would come before us, perhaps gods
and the god-universe, or perhaps, for the wicked man,
devOs and the diabolic world ; but all would be only
different views of the one universe. It is this universe
which, from the human plane, is seen as the earth, the
sun, the moon, the stars, and all such things — ^it is this
very universe which, seen from the plane of wickedness,
appears as a plstce of punishment. And this very universe
is seen as heaven by those who want to see it as heaven.
Those who have been dreaming of going to a God who is
sitting on a throne, and of. standing there praising Him all
their lives, when they die, will simply see a vision of what
they have in their minds ; this very universe will simply
change into a vast heaven, with all sorts dE winged bdngs
flying about and a God sitting on a throne. These
heavens are all of man’s own making. So what the
dualist says is true, says the Advaitin, but it is all simply

THE RIAL ft THE APPARENT MAN tn

of bi$ own making. These spheres and devils and gods
and reincarnations and trannoi^ations are all mythology ;
‘SO also is this human life. The great mistake that men
always make is to think that this life alone is true. They
understand it wdl enough when other things are called
mythologies, but are never willing to admit the same of
their own position. The whole thing as it appears is mete
mythology, and the greatest of all lies is that we are
bodies, which we never were nor even can be. It is the
greatest of all lies that we are mere men ; we are the
God of the universe. In worshipping God we have been
always worshipping our own hidden Self. The worst lie
that you ever tell yourself is that you were bom a sinner
or a wicked man. He alone is a sinner who sees a sinner
in another man. Suppose there is a baby here, and you
place a bag of gold on the table. Suppose a robber
comes and takes the gold away. To the baby it is all
the same; because there is no robber inside, there is no
robber outside. To sinnen and vile men, there is vileness
outside, but not to good men. So the wicked see this
univene as a hell, and the partially good see it as heaven,
while the perfect beings realise it as God Himself. Then
alone the veil falls from the eyes, and the man, purified
and cleansed, finds his whole vision changed. The bad
dreams that have been tortiuring him for millions of years,
all vanish, and he who was thinking of himself either as a
man, or a god, or a demon, he who was thinking of
himself as living in low places, in high places, on earth,
in heaven, and so on, finds that he is really omnipresent ;
that all time is in him, and that he is not in time ; that all
the heavens are in him, that he is not in any heaven ; and
that all the gods that man ever worshipped are in him,
and that he is not in any one of those gods. He was the
manufacturer of gods and demons, of men and plants and
animals and stones, and the real nature of man now stands
unfolded to him as being higher than heaven, more

S80 SWAMI VIYEMNANDA’S WORKS

perfect than this universe of ours, nunc infinite than
infinite time, more omnipresent than the mnnipresent
ether. Thus alone man becomes fearless, and becomes
free. Then all delusions cease, sdl miseries vanidi, all
fears come to an end for ever. Birth goes away and with
it death ; pains fly, and with them fly away pleasures ;
eaiths vanish, and with them tanish heavens; bodies
vanish, and with them vanishes the mind also. For that
man disappears the whole universe, as it were. This
searching, moving, continuous struggle of forces stops for
ever, and that which was manifesting itself as force and
matter, as struggles of nature, as nature itself, as heavens
and earths and plants and animals and men and angels,
all that becomes transfigu' d into one infinite, unbreak*
able, unchangeable existence, and the kndwing man finds
that he is one with that existence. “Even as clouds of
various colours come before the sky, remain there for a
second and then vanish away,” even so before this soul
are all these visions coming, of earths and heavens, of the
moon and the gods, of pleasures and pains ; but they all
pass away leaving the one infinite, blue, unchangeable
sky. The sky never changes ; it is the clouds that change.
It is a mistake to think that the sky is changed. It is a
mistake to think that we are impure, that we are limited,
that we are separate. The real man is the one Unit
Existence.

Two questions now arise. The first is: “Is it possible
to realise this ? So far it is doctrine, philosophy, but is it
possible to realise it ?” It is. There are men still living
in this world for whom ddusion has vanished for ever.
Do they immediately die after such realisation ? Not so
soon as we should think. Two wheels joined by one pole
are running together. If I get hcdd of <me of the wheels
and, with an axe, cut the pole asunder, the whed which
I have got hold of sto^ but upon the other wheel ia its
past momentum, so it runs on a little and then falls down.

THE AEAL k THE AFPAREMT KAN

xn

This puic and perfect bdng, the soul, is one vdied. and
this external hallucination of body and mind is the other
wheel, joined together by the pcde of woth, of Karma.
Knowledge is'the axe which will sever the bond between
the two, and the whed of the soul will stop — sb^ thinking
that it is cmning and going, living and dying, stop thinking
that it is nature and has wants and desires, and will find
that it is perfea, desireless. But upon the other wheel,
that of the body and mind, will be the momentum of past
acts ; so it will live for some time, until that momentum of
past work is exhausted, until that momentum is worked
away, and then the body and mind fall, and the soul
becomes free. No more is there any going to heaven and
coming back, not even any going to the Brahmaldia. or
to any of the highest of the spheres, for where is he to
come from, or to go to? The man who has in this life
attained to this state, for whom, for a minute at least, the
ordinary vision of the world has changed and the reality
has been apparent, he is called the "Living Free". This
is the goal of the Vedantin, to attain freedom while living.

Once in Western India I was travelling in the desert
country on the coast of the Indian Ocean. For days and
days I used to travel on foot through the desert, but it was
to my surprise that 1 saw every day beautiful lakes, with
trees all round them, and the shadows of the trees upside
down and vibrating there. "How wonderful it looks and
they call this a desert countryl ” I said to myself. Nearly
a month I travelled, seeing these wonderful lakes and trees
and plants. One day I was very thirsty and wanted to
have a drink of water, so I started to go to one of these
dear, beautiful lakes, and as I approached, it vanished.
And with a flash it came to my Inrain, "This is the mirage
about which I have read all my life,” and with that came
also the idea that throughout the whole of this month,
every day, I had been seeing the mirage and did not know
it. The next morning I bq^an my march. There was

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

again the lake, but with it came also the idea that it was
the mirage and not a true lake. So is it with this universe.
We are all travelling in this mirage of the world day after
day, month after month, year after year, not knowing that
it is a mirage. One day it will break up, but it will come
back again ; the body has to remain under the power of
past Karma, and so the min^ will come ba^. This
world will come back upon us so long as we are bound
by Karma: men, women, animals, plants, our attachments
and duties, all will come back to us, but not with the same
power. Under the influence of the new knowledge the
strength of Karma will be broken, its poison will be lost.
It becomes transformed, for along with it there comes the
idea that we know it now, that the sharp distinction
between the reality and the mirage has been known.

This world will not then be the same world as before.
There is, however, a danger here. We see in every
country people taking up this philosophy and saying, 'T
am beyond all virtue and vice ; so I am not bound by any
moral laws; I may do anything I like." You may find
many fools in this country at the present time, saying, "I
am not bound ; I am God Himself ; let me do anything
I like." This is not right, although it is tri^ that the soul
is beyond all laws, physical, mental, or moral. Within
law is bondage; beyond law is freedom. It is also true
that fi«edom is of the nature of the soul, it is its birthright:
that real freedom of the soul shines through veils of matter
in the 'form of the apparent freedom of man. Every
moment of your life you feel that you are free. We can-
not live, talk, or breathe for a moment without feeling that
we are free ; but, at the same time, a little thought shows
us that We are like machines and not free. What is true
then? Is this idea of freedom a delusion? One party
holds that the idea of freedom is a delusion ; anodier says
that the idea of bondage is a ddusion. How does this
happen ? Man is really free, the reM man cannot but be

Tm RSAt k THE APPARENT MAN

free. It is when he a>ine8 into the world of Maya* into
name and form^ that he becomes bound* Free will is a
misnomer. Will can never be free. How can it be? It
is only when the real man has become bound that his
will comes into existence, and not before. The will of
man is bound* but that which is the foundation of that will
is eternally free. So, even in the state of bondage which
we call human life or god-life, on earth or in heaven,
there yet remains to us that recollection of the freedom
which is ours by divine right. And consciously or un-
consciously we are all struggling towards it. When a
man has attained his own freedom, how can he be bound
by any law? No law in this universe can bind him* for
this universe itself is his.

He is the whole universe. Either say he is the whole
universe or say that to him there is no universe. How can
he have then all these little ideas about sex- and about
country? How can he say, I am a man* I am a woman,
1 am a child? Are they not lies? He knows that they
are. How can he say that these are man’s rights, and
these others are woman’s rights? Nobody has rights;
nobody separately exists. There is neither man nor
woman; the soul is sexless* eternally pure. It is a lie
to say that I am a man or a woman* or to say that I
belong to this country or that. All the world is my
country* the whole universe is mine* because I have
clothed myself with it as my body. Yc| we see that there
are people in this world who are ready to assert these
doctrines, and at the same time do things which we should
call filthy ; and if we adt them why they do so* they tell
us that it is our delusion and that they can do nothing
wrong. What is the test by which they are to be judged?
The test is here.

Though evil and good are both conditioned mani-
festations of the soul* yet evil is the most external coating,
and good is the nearer coadi^ of the real man. the Self.

U— 19

jee4 8WAM1 VIVEXANAMIVA’S WORKS

And unless a man cuts throt^h the layer of evil he caniMA
reach the layer of good, and unless he has passed through
both the layers of good and evil he cannot reach the Self.
He who reaches the SeU, what remains attached to him?
A little Karma, a little bit of the momentum past life,
but it is all good momentum. Until the bad momentum
is entirely worked out and past impurities are entirely
burnt, it is impossible for any man to see and realise
truth. So, what is left attached to the man who has
reached the Self and seen the truth is the remnant of the
good impressions of past life, the good minnentum. Even
if he lives in the body and worlu incessantly, he works
only to do good ; his lips speak only benediction to all ;
his hands do only good works ; his mind can only think
good thoughts; his presence is a blessing wherever he
goes. Efe is himself a living blessing. Such a man will,
by his very presence, change even the most wicked
persons into saints. Even if he does not speak, his very
presence will be a blessing to mankind. Can such men do
any evil ; can they do wicked deeds? There is, you must
remember, all the difiEeience of pole to pole between
realisation and mere talking. Any fool can talk. Even
parrots talk. Talking is one thing, and realising is another.
Philosophies, and doctrines, and arguments, and books,
and theories, and churches, and sects, and all these things
are good in their own way; but when that realisation
comes, these things drop away. For instance, maps are
good, but when you see the country itself, and look again
at the maps, what a great difference you findl So those
that have realised truth do not require the ratiodimtions
of logic and all other gymnastics of the intellect to make
them understand the truth ; it is to them the life of their
lives, concretised, made more than tai^ble. It is, as
the sages (ff the Vedanta say, "even as a fruit in your
hand” ; you can stand up and say, it is here. So
that have realised the truth will stand up and say, "Here

THE it£AL k THE AFPAXENT MAN

is the Sdf*. You may aigue with th«m by the year, bat
they will smile at you ; they will regard it all as child’s
prattle; they will let the child prattle on. They have
reaAi^ the truth and are full. Suppose you have seen a
country, and another man comes to you and tries to argue
with you that that country never existed, he may go on
arguing indefinitely, but your only attitude of mind to-
wards him must be to hold that the man is fit for a lunatic
asylum. So the man of realisation says, “All this talk in
the world about its little religicms is but prattle ; realisa-
tion is the soul, the very essence of religion." Religion
can be realised. Are you ready? Do you want it? You
will get the realisation if you do, and then you will be
truly religious. Until you have attained realisation there
is no difference between you and atheists. The atheists
are sincere, but the man who says that he believes in
religion and never attempts to realise it is not sincere.

The next question is to know what comes after reali-
sation. Suppose we have realised this oneness of the
universe, that we are that one Infinite Being, and suppose
we have realised that this Self is the <mly Existence and
that it is the same Self which is manifesting in all these
various phenomenal forms, what becomes of us after that?
Shall we become inactive, get into a comer and sit down
there and die away? “What good will it do to the
world?” That old question I In the fint place, why
diould it do good to the world? Is there any reason why
it should? What right has any one to ask the question,
**What good will it do to the world?" What is meant by
that? A baby likes candies. Suppose you are conduct-
ing investigations in connection with some subject of
electricity and the baby asks you, “Does it buy candies?”
“No” you answer. “Then what good will it do?” says
the baby. So uMn stand up and say, “What good will
this do to the world; will it give us money?" “No.”
“Then what good is there in it?” That is what men

S86

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

mean by doing good to the world. Yet religious reali*
sation does all the good to the world. People are afraid
that when they attain to it, when they realise that there
is but one, the fountains of love will be dried up,' that
everything in life will go away, and that all they love will
vanish for them, as it were, in this life and in the life to
come. People never stop to think that those who
bestowed the least thought on their own individualities
have been the greatest workers in the world. Then altme
a man loves when he finds that the object of his love
is not any low, little, mortal thing. Then alone a man
loves when he finds that the object of his love is not
a clod of earth, but it is the veritable God Himself. The
wife will love the husband the more when she thinks that
the husband is God Himself. The husband will love the
wife the more when he knows that the wife is God Him>
self. That mother will love the children more who
thinks that the children are God Himself. That man will
love his greatest enemy who knows that that very enemy
is God Himself. That man will love a holy man who
knows that the holy man is God Himself, and that very
man will also love the unholiest of men because he knows
the background of that unholiest of men is even He, the
Lord. Such a man becomes a world-mover for whom his
little self is dead and God stands in its place. The whole
universe will become transfigured to him. That which is
painful and miserable will all vanish; struggles will all
depart and go. Instead of being a prison-house, where
we every day struggle and fight and compete for- a morsel
of bread, this universe will then be to us a playground.
Beautiful will be this universe then I Such a man alone
has the right to stand up and say, "How beautiful is this
world!" He alone has the right to say that it is all good.
This will be the great good to the worid resulting from
such realisation, that instead of this world going on with
all its friction and clashing, if all mankind today realise

THE REAL fc THE AFPARENT MAN

only a bit ol that great truth, the aspect of the whole world
will be changed, and, in place of fighting and quarrelling,
there would be a rdgn of peace. This indecent and brutal
hurry which forces us to go ahead of every one else
win then vanish &om the world. With it will vanish aU
struggle, with it will vanish all hate, with it will vanish
all jealousy, and all evil will vanish away for ever. Gods
will live then upon this earth. This very earth will then
become heaven, and 'what evil can there be when gods
are playing with gods, when gods are working with gods,
and gods are loving gods ? That is the great utility of
divine realisation. Everything that you see in society will
be changed and transfigured then. No more will you think
of man as evil ; and that is the first great gain. No more
will you stand up and sneeringly cast a glance at a poor
man or woman who has made a mistake. No more, ladies,
will you look down with contempt upon the poor woman
who walks the street in the night, because you will see
even there God Himself. No more will you think of jealousy
and punishments. They will all vanish ; and love, the
great ideal of love, will be so powerful that no whip and
cord will be necessary to guide mankind aright.

If one millionth part of the men and women who live
in this world simply sit down and for a few minutes say,
‘Tou are all God, O ye men and O ye animals and living
beings, you are all the manifestations of the one living
Deity! ” the whole world will be changed in half an hour.
Instead of throwing tremendous bomb-sliells of hatred into
every comer, instead of projecting currents (tf jealousy and
of evil thought, in every country people will think that it
is all He. He is all that you see and feel. How can you
see evU until there is evil in you ? How can you see the
thief, unless he is there, sitting in the heart of your heart ?
How can you see the murderer until you are yourself the
murderer ? Be good, and evil wiU vanish for you. The
whole universe will thus be changed. This is the greatest

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S IVORXS

gain to society. This is the great gain to the human
oiganism. These thoughts were thought out, worked out
amongst individuals in ancient times in India. For various
reasons, such as the exclusiveness of the teachers and
foreign conquest, those thoughts were not allowed to
spread. Yet they are grand truths; and wherever they
have been working, man has become divine. My whole
life has been changed by the touch of one of these divine
men, about whom I am going to speak to you next
Sunday ; and the time is coming when these thoughts will
be cast abroad over the whole world. Instead of living
in monasteries, instead of being confined to books of
philosophy to be studied only by the learned, instead of
being the exclusive possession of sects and of a few of
the learned, they will all be sown broadcast over the whole
world, so that they may become the common property of
the saint and the sinner, of men and women and children,
of the learned and of the ignorant. They will then per-
meate the atmosphere of the world, and the very air that
we breathe will say with every one of its pulsations, “Thou
art That*'. And the whole universe with its myriads of
suns and moons, through everything that speaks, with one
voice will say, “Thou art That*’.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA
AND OTHER LECTURES

PRACTICAL VEDANTA

PART I

(Delivered in London, 10th November 1896)

I have beeh asked to say something about the
practical position of the Vedanta philosophy. As I have
told you, theory is very good indeed, but how are we to
carry it into practice ? If it be absolutely impracticable,
no theory is of any value whatever, except as intdlectual
gymnastics. The Vedanta, therefore, as a religion must
be intensely practical. We must be able to carry it out in
every part of our lives. And not only this, the fictitious
differentiation between religion and the life of the wmid
must vanish, for the Vedanta teaches oneness— one life
throughout. The ideals of rdigion must cover the whole
field life, they must enter into all our thoughts, and
more and more into practice. I will enter gradually on
the practical side as we proceed. But this series of
lectures is intended to be a basis, and so we must first
apply ourselves to theories and understand how they are
worked out, proceeding firom forest caves to busy streett
and cities ; and one peculiar feature we find is that many
of these thoughts have been the outcome, not retire-
ment into forests, but have emanated from persons whom
we expect to lead the busiest lives — from ruling monaidu.

^vetaketu was the son of Aruni, a sage, most probably
a recluse. He was brought up in the forest, but he went
to the dty the PandiAlas and appeared at the court of
the king, Prav&hana Jaivali. The king asked him, "Do
you know how beings depsut hence at death ?” . "No, rir."
"Do you know how they return hither ?" "No, sir."

m SWAM VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

“Do you know the way of the fathen and the way
of the gods ?” “No, sir.” Thm the king asked other ques-
tions. Shvetaketu could not answer them. So the king told
him that he knew nothing. The boy went badi to his
father, and the father admitted that he himsdf could not
answer these questions. It was not that he was unwilling
to answer these questions. It was not that he was unwQl-
ing to teach the boy, but he did not know these things.
So he went to the king and asked to be taught these
secrets. The king said that these things had been hither-
to known only among kings; the priests never knew
them. He, however, proceeded to teach him what he
desired to know. In various Upanishads we find that
this Vedanta philosophy is not the outcome of medita-
tion in the forests only, but that the very best parts of
it were thought out and expressed by brains which were
busiest in the everyday affairs of life. We cannot con-
ceive any man busier than an absolute monarch, a man
who is ruling over millions of people, and yet, some of
these rulers were deep thinkers.

Everything goes to show that this philosophy must be
very practical ; and later on, when we come to the
Bhagavad-Gita — ^most of you, perhaps, have read it, it is
the best commentary we have on the Vedanta philosophy
— curiously enough the scene is laid on the battlefield,
where Krishna teaches this philosophy to Arjuna ; and the
doctrine which stands out luminously in every page of the
Gita is dntense activity, but in the midst of it, eternal
calmness. This is the secret of work, to attain which is
the goal of the Vedanta. Inactivity, as we understand
it in the sense of passivity, certainly cannot be the goal.
Were it so, then the walls around us would be the most
intelligent ; they are inactive. Clods of earth, stumps of
trees, would be the greatest sages in the wtnrid ; they are
inactive. Nor does inactivity become activity when it is
combined with passion. Real activity, which is the goal

if PlUCnCAL VEDANTA 1

of Vedanta^ is combiiied *vith eternal calmness^ the
calmness which canned be ruffled* the balance oC mind
which is never disturbed* whatever happens. And we
all know from our experience in life that that is the best
attitude for wmrk.

I have been asked many times how we can work if
we do not have the passion which we generally feel for
work. I also thought in that way years ago* but as I am
growing older* getting more experience* 1 find it is not
true. The less passion there is* the better we work. The
calmer we are* the better for us. and the more the amount
of work we can do. When we let loose our feelings* we
waste so much energy* shatter our nerves* disturb our
minds* and accomplish very little work. The energy which
ought to have gone out as work is spent as mere feeling*
which counts for nothing. It is only when the mind is
very calm and collected that the whole of Its energy is
spent in doing good work. And if you read the lives of
the great workers which the world has produced* you will
find that they were wonderfully calm men. Nothing* as it
were, could throw them off their balance. That is why
the man who becomes angry never does a great amount
of work* and the man whom nothing can make angry
accomplishes so much. The man who gives way to
anger* or hatred* or any other passion* cannot work ; he
only breaks himself to pieces* and does nothing practical.
It is the calm* forgiving* equable* well-balanced mind that
does the greatest amount of work.

The Vedanta preaches the ideal ; and the ideal* as we
know* is always far ahead of the real* of the practical* as
we may call it. There are two tendencies in human
nature: one to harmonise the ideal with the life* and the
other to elevate the life to the ideal. It is a great thing to
understand this* for the former tendency is the tempution
of our lives. I think that 1 can only do a certain class of
work. Most o^ it* perhaps* is bad ; most of it* perhaps^

SM SWAMI VIVEKANAMDA’S WORKS

has a motive power of passion behind it, anger, or greed,
or selfishness. Now if any man comes to preach to me a
certain ideal, the first step towards which is to give up
selfishness, to give up self-enjoyment, I think that is im'
practical. But when a man brings an ideal which can be
reconciled with my selfishness, I am glad at once and
jump at it. That is the ideal for me. As the word
“orthodox" has been manipulated into various forms, so
has been the word “practical". "My doxy is orthodoxy;
your doxy is heterodoxy." So with practicality. What
1 think is practical, is to me the only practicality in the
world. If I am a shopkeeper, I think shopkeeping the
only practical pursuit in the world. If I am a thief, I
think stealing is the best means (rf being practical ; others
are not practical. You see how we all use this word
practical for things we like and can do. Therefore I
will ad: you to understand that Vedanta, though it is
intensely practical, is always so in the sense of the
ideal. It does not preach an impossible ideal, how-
ever high it be, and it is hig^ enough for an ideal. In
one word, this ideal is that you are divine, “Thou art
That". This is the essence of Vedanta ; after all its
ramifications and intellectual gymnastics, you know the
human soul to be pure and omniscient, you see that such
superstitions as birth and death would be entire nonsense
when spoken 6t in conneaion with the soul. The soul was
never bom and will never die, and all these ideas that
we are going to die and are afraid to die are mere super-
stitions. And all such ideas as that we can do this or can-
not do that are siiperstitions. We can do everything. The
Vedanta teaches men to have faith in theipsdves fint.
As certain religions of the world say that a man who
does not believe in a Personal God outside of himself is
an atheist, so the Vedanta says, a man who does not
believe in himself is an atheist. Not believing in the glory
of our own soul is what the Vedanta calls atheism. To

PRACTICAL VEDANTA I

W

many this is, no doubt, a terrible idea ; and most ot us
think that this ideal can never be reached ; but the Vedanta
insists diat it can be realised by every one. There is
neither man nor woman or child, nor difference of race
or sex, nor anything that stands as a bar to the realisation
of the ideal, because Vedanta shows that it is realised
already, it is already there.

All the powers in the universe are already ours. It is
we who have put our hands before our eyes and cry that
it is dark. Know that there is no darkness around us.
Take the hands away and there is the light which was
from the beginning. Darkness never existed, weakness
never existed. We who are fools cry that we are weak ;
we who are fools cry that we are impure. Thus Vedanta
not only insists that the ideal is practical, but that it has
been so all the time; and this Ideal, this Reality, is our
own nature. Everything else that you see is lalse, untrue.
As soon as you say, "I am a little mortal being,” you are
saying something which is not true, you are giving the lie
to yourselves, you are hypnotising yourselves into some-
thing vile and weak and wretched.

The Vedanta recognises no sin, it only recognises
error. And the greatest error, says the Vedanta, is to say
that you are weak, that you are a sinner, a miserable crea-
ture, and that you have no power and you cannot do this
and that. Every time you think in that way, you, as it
were, rivet one more link in the chain Chat binds you down,,
you add one more layer of hypnotism on to your own soul.
Therefore, whosoever thinks he is weak is wrong, whoso-
ever thinks he is impure is wrong, and is throwing a bad
thought into the world. This we must always bear in
mind that in the Vedanta there is no attmpt at reconcil-
ing the present life — the hypnotised life, this false life
which we have assumed — ^with the ideal ; but this false
life must go, and the real life which is always existing
must manifest itself, must shine out. No man becomes

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SWAm VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

purer and purer, it ia a matter of greater manifestation.
The veil drops away, and the native purity of the soul
begins to manifest itsdlf. Everything is ours alr^y —
infinite purity, freedom, love, and power.

The Vedanta also says that not only can this be
realised in the depths of forests or caves, but by men in
all possible conditioiu of life. We have seen that the
people who discovered these truths were neither living in
caves nor forests, nor following the ordinary vocations of
life, but men who, we have every reason to believe, led
the busiest of lives, men who had to command armies, to
sit on thrones, and look to the welfare of millions — and
all these, in the days of absolute monarchy, and not as in
these days when a king is to a great extent a mere figure-
head. Yet they could find time to think out all these
thoughts, to realise them, and to teach them to humanity.
How much more then should it be practical for us whose
lives, compared with theirs, are lives of leisure ? That we
cannot realise them is a shame to us, seeing that we are
comparatively free all the time, having very little to do
My requirements are as nothing compared with those of
an ancient absolute monarch. My -wants are as nothing
compared with the demands of Arjuna on the battlefield
of Kurukshetra, commanding a huge army ; and yet he
could find time in the midst of the din and turmoil of
battle to talk the higliest phOosophy and to carry it into
his life also. Surely we ought to be able to do as much
in this life of ours— comparativdy free, easy, and comfort-
able. Most of us here have more time than we think we
have, if we really want to use it for good. Witii the
amount of freedom we have we can attain to hvo hundred
ideals in this life, if we will, but we must not degrade the
ideal to the actual. One of the most insinuating things
comes to us in the shape ot persons who apologise for our
mistakes and teadt us how to make qtecial excuses for
all our foolish wants and foolish desires ; and we think

FKAGTICAL VEDANTA 1

tn

that thdr ided is the only ideal we need have. But it ia
not ao. The Vedanta teadiea no auch thing. The actual
ahould be lecondled to the ideal, the present life should
be made to coincide with life eternal.

For you must always remember that the ooe centtral
ideal of Vedanta is this oneness. There are no two in
anything, no two lives, nor even two di&rent kinds of
life few the two worlds. You will find the Vedas speaking
of heavens and things like that at first ; but later on, when
they come so the highest ideals of their philosophy, they
brush away all these things. There is but one life, one
world, one existence. Everything is that One, the differ-
ence is in degree and not in kind. The difference between
our lives is not in kind. The Vedanta entirely denies
such ideas as that animals are separate from men, and
that they were made and created by God to .be used for
our food.

Some people have been kind enough to start an anti-
vivisection society. I asked a member, "Why do you
think, my friend, that it is quite lawful to kill animals for
food, and not to kill one or two for scientific experi-
ments ?" He replied, "Viviseedtm is most horrible, but
animals have been given to us for food." Oneness
includes all animals. If man's life is immortal, so also is
the animal’s. The difference is only in degree and not
in kind. The amoeba and I are the same, the diffmnee
is only in degree ; and from the stand^int of the highest
life, :dl these differences vanish. A man may see a great
deal of difference between grass and a little tree, but if
you mount very hig^, the grass and the biggest tree will
appear mudi the same. So, firom the standpoint tff the
highest ideal, the lowest animal tmd die highest man are
the same. If you believe there is a God, the animals and
the highest creatures must be the same. A God who is
partial to his children called men, and cruel to his children
called brute beast^ is worse than a demon. 1 Wo^

i I'Cc'^Sit «.yuswtih-

298

SWAMI VIVEKAMANDA'8 WORKS

rather die a hundred times than worship such a God. My
whole life would be a fig^t with such a God. But there
is no difference, and those who say there is, are irre*
sponsible, heartless people who do not know. Here is a
case of the word practical used in a wrong sense. I myself
may not be a very strict vegetarian, but 1 understand the
ideal. When I eat meat I know it is wrong. Even if I am
bound to eat it under certain circumstances, I know it is
cruel. I must not drag my ideal down to the actual and
apologise for my weak conduct in this 'way. The ided is
not to eat flesh, not to injure any being, for all animals are
my brothers. If you can think of them as your brothers,
you have made a little headway towards the brotherhood
of all souk, not to speak of the brotherhood of man1
That is child’s play. You generally find that this is not
very acceptable to many, because it teaches them to give
up the actual, and go higher up to the ideal. But if you
bring out a theory which is reconciled with their present
conduct, they regard it as entirely practical.

There is this strongly conservative tendency in human
nature: we do not like to move one step forward. I think
qf mankind just as I read of persons who become frozen
in snow ; all such, they say, want to go to sleep, and if you
try to drag them up, they say, "Let me sleep ; it is so
beautiful to sleep in the snow”, and they die there in that
sleep. So is our nature. That is what we are doing all
our life«, getting ^zen from the feet upwards, and yet
wanting to deep. Therefore you must struggle tovrards
the ideal, and if a man comes who wants to bring that
ideal down to your level, and teach a rdigion that does
not carry that highest ideal, do not listen to him. To me
that is an impracticable rdigion. But if a man teaches
a rdigion which presoits the highest ideal, I am ready
for him. Beware when anyone is trying to apologise for
sense vanities and sense weaknesses. If anyone wants to
preadi that way to us, poor, sense-bound dods of eardt

FltMTlICAL VEDANTA 1

El we have made ounelvet by following that teaching,
we shall never progress. I have seen many of these things,
I have had some experience of the world, and my country
is the land where religious sects grow like mushrooms.
Every year new sects arise* But one thing 1 have marked,
that it is only those that never want to reconcile the
man of flesh with the man of truth that make progress.
Wherever there is this false idea of reconciling fleshly
vanities with the highest ideals, of dragging down God to
the level of man, there comes decay. Man should not be
degraded to worldly slavery, but should be raised up to
God.

At the same time, there is another side to the question.
We must not look down with contempt on others. All
of us are going towards the same goal. The difference
between weakness and strength is one of degree ; the
difference between virtue and vice is one of degree ; the
difference between heaven and hell is one of degree ; the
difference between life and death is one of degree ; all
differences in this world are of degree, and not of kind,
because oneness is the secret of everything. All is One,
which manifests Itself, either as thou^t, or life, or soul, or
body, and the difference is only in degree. As such, we
have no right to look down with contempt upon those who
are not developed exactly in the same degree as we are*
Condemn none ; if you can stretch out a helping hand, do
so. If you cannot, fold your hands, l^less your brothers,
and let them go their own way. Dragging down and
condemning is not the way to work. Never is work
accomplished in that way. We spend our energies in con-
demning others. Criticism and condemnation is a vain
way of spending our energies, for in the long run we come
to learn that all are seeing the same thing, are more or
less approaching the same ideal, and that most of our
differences are merely differences of expression.

Take the idea of sin. I was tolling you just now the

n-ao

800

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS .

Vedantic idea of it, and the other idea is that man is a
sinner. They are practically the same, only the one. takes
the positive and the other the negative side. One shows
to man his strength and the othnr his we^dtness. There
may be weakness, says the Vedanta, but never mind, we
want to grow. Disease was found out as soon as man was
bom. Everyone knows his disease ; it requires no one to
tell us what our diseases are. But thinking all the time
that we are diseased will not cure us — ^medicine is neceS'
sary. We may forget anything outside, we may try to
become hypocrites to the external world, but in our heart
of hearts we all know our weaknesses. But, says the
Vedanta, being reminded of weakness does not help
much ; give strength, and strength does not come by
thinking of weakness all the time. The remedy for weak-
ness is not brooding over weakness, but thinking of
strength. Teach men of the strength that is already
within them. Instead of telling them they are sinners, the
Vedanta takes the opposite position, and says, "You are
pure and perfect, and what you call sin does not belong
to you.” Sins are very low degrees of Self-manifestation ;
manifest your Self in a high degree. That is the one thing
to remember ; all of us can do that. Never say, "No”,
never say, "I cannot”, for you are infinite. Even time
and space are as nothing compared with your nature. You
can do anything and everything, you are almighty.

These are the principles of ethics, but we shall now
come down lower and work out the details. We shall see
how this Vedanta can be carried into our everyday life,
the city life, the country life, the national life, and the
home life of every nation. For, if a religion cannot help
man wherever he may be, wherever he stands, it is not
much use ; it will remain only a theory for tike diosen
few. Religion, to help mankind, must be ready and able
to help him in whatever condition he is, in servitude or in
freedom, in the depths of degradation or on the heights of

PRACTICAL VEDANTA I WI

purity ; everywhere, equally, it diould be able to come
to his aid. The principles of Vedanta, or the ideal of
religion, or whatever you may call it, will be fulfilled by
its capacity for performing this great function.

The ideal of faith in ourselves is of the greatest help
to us. If faith in ourselves had been more extensively
taught and practised,.! am sure a very large portion of
the evils and miseries that we have would have vanished.
Throughout the history of mankind, if any motive power
has been more potent than another in the lives of all
great men and women, it is that of faith in themselves.
Born with the consciousness that they were to be great,
they became great. Let a man go down as low as possible ;
there must come a time when out of sheer desperation he
will take an upward curve a^d will learn to have faith in
himself. But it is better for us that we should know it
from the very first. Why should we have all these bitter
experiences in order to gain faith in ourselves ? We can
see that all the difference between man and man is owing
to the existence or non-existence of faith in himself.
Faith in ourselves will do everything. 1 have experienced
it in my own life, and am still doing so ; and as 1 grow
older that faith is becoming stronger and stronger. He is
an atheist who does not believe in himself. The old
religions said that he was an atheist who did not believe
in God. The new religion says that hq is the atheist who
does not believe in himself. But it is not selfish faith,
because the Vedanta, again, is the doctrine of oneness.
It means faith in all, because you are all. Love for your-
selves means love for all, love for animals, love for every-
thing, for you are all one. It is the great faith which
will make the world better. I am sure of that. He is the
highest man who can say with truth, “I know all about
myself." Do you know how much energy, how many
powers, how many forces am still lurking behind that
frame of yours ? What scientist has known all that is in

S<tt SWAMI VtVEKANANDA'S WORKS

man ? Millions of years have passed since man fint came
here, and yet but one infinitenmal part of his powers has
been manifested. Therefore, you must not say that you
are weak. How do you know what possibilities lie behind
that degradation on the surface ? You know but little d!
that which is within you. For behind you is the ocean
of infinite power and blessedness.

"This Atman is first to be heard of.” Hear day and
night that you are that Soul. Repeat it to yourselves day
and night till it enters into your very veins, till it tingles in
every drop of blood, till it is in your flesh and bone. Let
the whole body be full of that one ideal, "I am the
birthless, the deathless, the blissful, the omniscient, the
omnipotent, ever-glorious Soul.” Think on it day and
night ; think on it till it becomes part and parcel of your
life. Meditate upon it, and out of that will come work.
“Out of the fullness of the heart the mouth speaketh,”
and out of the fullness of the heart the hand worketh also.
Action will come. . Fill yourselves with the ideal ; what-
ever you do, think well on it. All your actions will be
magnified, transformed, deified, by the very power of the
thought. If matter is powerful, thought is omnipotent.
Bring this thought to bear upon your life, fill yourselves
with the thought of your almightiness, your majesty, and
your glory. Would to God no superstitions had been
put into your head I Would to God we had not been
surroufided from our birth by all these superstitious influ-
ences and paralysing ideas of our weakness and vileness I
Would to God that mankind had had an easier path
through which to attain to the noblest and highest trpthsl
But man had to pass through all this ; do not make the
path more difficult for those who are coming after you.

These are sometimes terrible doctrines to teach. 1
know people who get frightened at these ideas, but for
those who want to be practical, this is the first thing to
learn. Never tell yoursdves or others that you are weak.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA I M

Do good if you can, but do not injure the world. You
know in your inmost heart that many of your limited ideas,
this humbling of yourself and praying and weeping to
imaginary beings are superstitions. Tell me one case
where these prayers have been answered. All the answers
that came were from your own hearts. You know there
are no ghosts, but no sooner are you in the dark than
you feel a little creepy sensation. That is so because in
our childhood we have had all these fearful ideas put
into our heads. But do not teach these things to others
through fear of society and public opinion, through fear
of incurring the hatred of friends, or for fear of losing
cherished superstitions. Be masters of all these. What is
there to be taught more in religion than the oneness of
the universe and faith in one's self? All the works of
mankind for thousands of years past have been towards
this one goal, and mankind is yet irorking it out. It is
your turn now and you already knovs' the truth. For it
has been taught on all sides. Not only philosophy and
psychology, but materialistic sciences have declared it.
Where is the scientific man today ^vho fears to acknow-
ledge the truth of this oneness of the universe? Who is
there who dares talk of many worlds? All these are
superstitions. There is only one life and one world, and
this one life and one world is appearing to us as manifold.
This manifoldness is like a dream. When you dream, one
dream passes away and another cornea. You do not live
in your dreams. The dreams come one after another,
scene after scene unfolds before you. So it is in. this
world of ninety per cent mis^ and ten per cent happi-
ness. Perhaps after a while it will appear as ninety per
cent happiness, and we shall call it heaven, but a time
comes to the sage when the whole thing vanishes, and
this world appears as God Himself, and bis own soul as
God. It is not therefore that there are many worlds, it
is not that there are many lives. All this manifoldness

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SWAMI VIVSKANANDA'S WORKS

is the manifestation of that One. That One is manifestinft
Himsdf as many, as matter, spirit, mind, thought, and
everything else. It is that One, manifesting Himself as
many. Therefore the first step for us to take is to teadi
the truth to ourselves and to others.

Let the world resound with this ideal, and let supersti*
tions vanish. Tell it to men who are weak and persist
in tdling it. You are the Pure One ; awake and arise,
O mighty one, this sleep does not become you. Awake
and arise, it does not befit you. Think not that you are
weak and miserable. Almi^ty, arise and awake, and
manifest your own nature. It is not fitting that you think
yourself a sinner. It is not fitting that you think yourself
weak. Say that to the world, say it to yourselves, and see
what a practical result comes, see how with an electric
flash everything is manifested, how everything is changed.
Tell that to mankind, and show them their power. Then
we shall learn how to apply it in our daily lives.

To be able to use what we call Viveka (discrimina-
tion), to learn how in every moment of our lives, in every
one of our actions, to discriminate between what is right
and wrong, true and false, we shall have to know the test
of truth, which is purity, oneness. Everything that makes
for oneness is truth. Love is truth, and hatred is false,
because hatred makes for multiplicity. It is hatred that
separates man from man ; therefore it is wrong and false.
It is a disintegrating power ; it separates and destroys.

Love binds, love makes for that oneness. You
become one, the mother with the child, families with the
city, the whole world becomes one with the animals. For
love is Existence, God Himself; and all this is the mani-
festation of that One Love, more or less expre^ed. The
difference is only in degree, .but it is the manifestation of
that One Love throughout. Therefore in all our actions
we have to judge whether it is making for diversity or for
oneness. If for diversity we have to give it up, but H it

PRACnCAI^ VEDANTA 1

ME

fliakes for oneness we ate sure it is good. So with our
thou^ts ; we have to dedde whether they make for dis>
integration, mult^lidtyt or for onoiess, binding soul to
soul and bringing one influence to bear. If they do this,
we will take than up, and if not, we will throw them off
as criminal.

The whole idea <ff ethics is that it does not depend on
anything unknowable, it does not teach anything un-
known, but in the language of the Upanishad, “The God
whom you worship as an unknown God, the same I preach
unto thee.’* It is throi^h the Sdf that you know anything.
I see the chair ; but to see the chair, I have first to per-
ceive myself and then the chair. It is in and through the
Self that the chair is perceived. It is in and through the
Self that you are known to me, that the whole world is
known to me ; and therefore to say this Self is unknown is
sheer nonsense. Take off the Self and the whole universe
vanishes. In and through the Self all knowledge comes.
Therefore it is the best known of all. It is yourself, that
which you call I. You may wonder how this I of me can
be the I of you. You may wonder how this limited I can
be the unlimited Infinite, but it is so. The limited is a mere
fiction. The Infinite has been covered up, as it were, and
a little of It is manifesting as the I. Limitation can never
come upon the unlimited ; it is a fiction. The Self is
known, therefore, to every one of us — ^man, woman, or
child — and even to animals.. Without knowing Him we
can neither live nor move, nor have our being ; without
knovnng this Lord of aU, we cannot breathe or live a
second. The God of the Vedanta is the most known of
all and is not the outcome of imagination.

If this is not preachii^ a practical God, how else could
you teadi a practical God? Where is there a more
practical God than He whom I see before me — ^a God
omnipresent, in every being, more real than our senses?
For you ate He, the Omnipresent God Almighty, the Soul

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'9 WORKS

of your souls, and if I say you aie not, 1 tell an untnitli.
1 know it, whether at all times I realise it or not. He is
the Oneness, the Unity of all, the Reality of all life and
all existence.

These ideas of the ethics of Vedanta have to be
worked out in detail, and, therefore, you must have
patience. As I have told you, we want to take the subject
in detail and work it up tborou^y, to see how the ideas
grow from very low ideals, and how the one great Ideal
of oneness has developed* and become shaped into the
universal love; and we ought to study these in order to
avoid dangers. The world -cannot find time to woth it up
from the lowest steps. But what is the use of our standing
on higher steps if we cannot give the truth to others coming
afterwards? Therefore, it is better to study it in all its
workings ; and first, it is absolutely necessary to dear the
intellectual portion, althou^ we know that intellectuality
is almost nothing; for it is the heart that is of most
importance. It is through the heart that the Lord is seen,
and not through the intellect. The intdlect is oidy the
street-deaner, deansing the path for us, a secondary
worker, the policeman ; but the policeman is not a positive
necessity for the workings of sodety. He is only to sti^
disturbances, to check wrong-doing, and that is all the
work required of the intdlect 'When you read intellectual
books, you think when you have mastered them, *'Uess
the Loi)d that I am out of them**, because the intellect
is blind and cannot move of itself it has neither hands
nor feet. It is feeling that works, that moves with q>eed
infinitely superior to that (d electridty or anything dse.
Do you fed? — ^that is the question. If you do, you will
see the Lord: It is the feding that you have today that
will be intendfied, ddfied, raised to the big^dt platform,
until it feels everything; the oneness in everything; till
it feels God in itsdf and in others. The intdfea can
never do diat. **Diffemit methods of qieaking words.

PRACnCAL VEDANTA I

809

dUEerent methodt exidainiog the texu of books,, these
ere for the enjoyment (rf the learned, not for the salvation
of the soul” {Vivekachuddnumi, 58).

Those of you who have read Thomas a Kempis know
how in every page he insists on this, and almost every holy
man in the wmrld has insisted on it. Intdlect is necessary,
for without it we fall into crude errors and make all sorts
of mistakes. Intellect chedts these ; but beyond that, do
not try to build anythii^ upon it. It is an inactive, second-
ary hdp ; the real help is feeling, love. Do you feel for
others? If you do, you are growing in oneness. If you
do not feel for othen, you may be the most intelleaual
giant ever bom, but you will be nothing ; you are but dry
intellect, and you will remain sa And if you feel, even if
you cannot read any book and do not know any language,
you are in the rig^t way. The Lord is youn.

Do you not know firom the history of the world where
the power of the prophets lay? Where was it? In the in-
tellect? Did any of them write a fine book on philosophy,
on the most intricate ratiocinations of logic? Not one of
them. They only spoke a few words. Feel like Christ
and you will be a Christ ; fed like Buddha and you will be
a Buddha. It is feding that is the life, the strength, the
vitality, without which no amount of intellectual activity
can reach God. Intdlea is like limbs without the power
of locomotion. It is only when feeling enters and gives
them motion that they move and work* <m others. That is
so all over the world, and it is a thing which you must
always remember. It is one of the most practical things in
Vedantic morality, for it is the teaching ol the Vedanta that
you are all propheu, and all must be prophets. The
book is not the proof of your conduct, but you are the
proof of the book. . How do you know that a lK>ok teaches
trath? Because you are truth and fed it. That is what the
Vedanta says. What is the proof of the Christs and
Buddhas of the worid? That you and 1 fed like them.

808

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

That .is how you and 1 undorstand that they weie true.
Our prophet>soul is the proof of their prc^het-soul. Your
godhead is the proof of God Himself. If you are not a
prophet, there never has been anything true of God. If
you are not God, there never was any God, and never will,
be. This, says the Vedanta, is the ideal to follow. Every
one of us will have to become a prophet, and you are that
already. Only know it. Never think there is anything
impossible for the soul. It is the greatest heresy to think
so. If there is sin, this is the only sin — to say that you are
weak, or others are weak.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA
PART n

{Delivered in London, 12th November 189S)

I will relate to you a very ancient story from the
Chh&ndogya Upanishad, which tells how knowledge came
to a boy. The form of the story is very crude, but we shall
find that it contains a principle. A young boy said to
his mother, “1 am going to study the Vedas. Tell me the
name of my father and my caste.*’ The mother was not a
married woman, and in India the child of a woman who
has not been married is considered an outcast ; he is not
recognised by society and is not entitled to study the
Vedas. So the poor mother said, "My child, I do not
know your family name; I was in service, and served in
different places ; I do not know who your father is, but my
name is Jabdli and your name is Satyakftma.*’ The little
child went to a sage and asked to be taken as a student.
The sage asked him, "What is the name of your father,
and what is your caste?” The boy repeated to him what
he had heard from his mother. The sage at once said,
‘’None but a Brdhmin could speak such a damaging truth
about himself. You are a Brahmin and 1 will teadi you.
You have not swerved hrom truth." So he kept the boy
with him and educated him.

Now come some of the peculiar methods of education
in ancient India. This teacher gave Satyakama four hun>
dred lean, weak cows to take care of, and sent him to the
forest. There he wait and lived for some time. The
teacher had told him to come back when the herd would
increase to the number of one thousand. After a few
years, one day Satyakama heard a big bull in the herd
saying to him, "We are a thousand now ; take us back to

910

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

your teacher. I will teach you a little of Brahman.'' "Say
on, sir," said Satyaluuna. Then the bull said, "The East
is a part of the Lord, so is the West, so is the South, so is
the North. The four cardinal points are the four parts of
Brahman. Fire will also teach you something of Brahman."
Fire was a great symbol in those days, and every student
had to procure fire and make offerings. So on the following
day, Satyakama started for his Guru’s house, and when
in the evening he had performed his oblation, and wor*
shipped at the fire, and was sitting near it, he heard a voice
come from the fire, "O Satyakama." “Speak, Lord," said
Satyakama. (Perhaps you may remember a very similar
story in the Old Testament, how Samuel heard a mysterious
voice.) "O Satyakama, I am come to teach you a little of
Brahman. This earth is a portion of that Brahman. The
sky and the heaven are portions of It. The ocean is a
part of that Brahman." Then the fire said that a certain
bird would also teach him something. Satyakama contin-
ued his journey and on the next day when he had per-
formed his evening sacrifice a swan came to him and said,
"1 will teach you something about Brahman. This fire
which you worship, O Satyakama, is a part of that
Brahman. The sun is a part, the moon is a part, the
lightning is a part of that Brahman. A bird called Madgu
will tell you more about it.” The next evening that bird
came, and a similar voice was heard by Satyakama, “1
will tell you something about Brahman. Breath is a part
of Brahman, sight is a part, hearing is a part, the mind is
a part." Then the boy arrived at his teacher’s place and
presented himself before him with due reverence. No
sooner had the teacher seen this disciple than he remade-
ed: "Satyakama, thy &ce shines like that of a knower
Brahman I Who then has taught thee?”. "Beings other
than men," replied Satyakama. "But 1 wish that you
should teach me, sir. For I have heard from men like
you that knowledge whidi is learnt from a Guru alone

FRACnCAL VEDANTA U

811

leads to the supreme good ” Then the sage Uu^t him
the same knowledge whidi he. had received from Ae gods.
“And nothing was left oat« yea, nothing was left out.”

Now, apart from the allegories ot what the bull, the
fire, and the birds taught, we see the tendency of the
thought and the direction iii which it was going in those
days. The great idea of which we here see the germ is
that all these voices are inside ourselves. As we under-
stand these truths better, we find that the voice is in our
own heart, and the student understood that all the time
he was hearing the truth ; but his explanation was not
correct. He was interpreting the voice as coming from the
external world, while all the time, it was within him. The
second idea that we get is that of making the knowledge
of the Brahman practical. The world is always seeking
the practical possibilities of religion, and we find in these
stories how it was becoming more and more practical every
day. The truth was shown through everything with which
the students were familiar. The fire they were worshipping
was Brahman, the earth was a part of Brahman, and so on.

The next story belongs to Upakosala K&maHyana, a
disciple of this Satyakama, who went to be taught by him
and dwelt with him for some time. Now Satyakama went
away on a journey, and the student became very down-
hearted : and when the teacher's wife came and asked him
why he was not eating, the boy said, "1 am too unhappy
to eat.” Then a voice came from the fire he was wor-
shipping, saying “This life is Brahman, Brahman is the
ether, and Brahman is happiness. Know Brahman.” “I
know, sir,” the boy replied, "that life is Brahman, but
that It is ether and happiness I do not know.” Then it
explained diat the two words ether and happiness signified
one thing in reality, viz. the sentient ether (pure in-
telligence) that resides in the heart. So, it taught him
Brahman as life and as the ether in the heart. Then the
fire taught him, “This earth, food, fire, and sun whom

S12 SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

you wor^ip, are forms of Brahman. The person that is
seen in the sun, I am He. He who knows this and medi-
tates on Him, all his sins vanish and he has long lifo and
becomes happy. He who lives in the cardinal points, the
moon, the stars, and the water, I am He. He who lives in
this life, the ether, the heavens, and the lightning, I am
He.” Here too we see the same idea of practical religion.
The things which they were worshipping, such as the fire,
the sun, the moon, and so forth, and the voice with which
they were familiar, form the subject of the stories which
explain them and give them a higher meaning. And this is
the real, practical side of Vedanta. It does not destroy the
world, but it explains it ; it does not destroy the person,
but explains him ; it does not destroy the individuality,
but explains it by showing the real individuality.
It does not show that this world is vain and does not
exist, but it says, “Understand what this world is, so that
it may not hurt you.” The voice did not say to Upakosala
that the fire which he was worshipping, or the sun, or
the moon, or the lightning, or anything else, was all tvrong,
but it showed him that the same spirit which was inside the
sun, and moon, and lightning, and the fire, and the earth,
was in him, so that everything became transformed, as it
were, in the eyes of Upakosala. The fire which was
merely a material fire before, in which to make oblations,
assumed a new aspect and became the Lord. The earth
became 'transformed, life became transformed, the sun, the
moon, the stars, the lightning, everything became trans-
formed and deified. Their real nature was known. The
theme of the Vedanta is to see the Lord in everything, to
see things in their real nature, not as they appear to be.
Then another lesson is tau^t in the Upani^ads: **He
who shines through the eyes is Brahman ; He is the Beauti-
ful One, He is the Shining One. He diines in all these
worlds.” A certain peculiar light, a cmnmentator says,
which comes to the pure man, b what is meant by the lig^t

PRACTICAL VEDANTA VL

SIS

in the eyes, and it is said that when a man is pure suth a
light will shine in his eyes, and that light belongs really to
the Soul within, which is everywhere* It is the same light
which shines in the planets, in the stars, and suns.

I will now read to you some other doctrine of these
ancient Upanishads, about birth and death and so on.
Perhaps it will interest you. Shvetaketu went to the king
of the PanchSlas, and the king asked him, '*Do you know
where people go when they die? Do you know how they
come back? Do you know why the other world does not
become full?** The boy replied that he did not know.
Then he went to his father and asked him the same ques-
tions. The father said, *T do not know,*' and he went to
the king. The king said that this knowledge was never
known to the priests, it was only with the kings, and that
was the reason why kings ruled the world. This man
stayed with the king for some time, for the king
said he would teach him. **The other world, O Gautama,
is the fire. The sun is its fuel. The rays are the smoke.
The day is the flame. The moon is the embers. And the
stars are the sparks. In this fire the gods pour libation
of faith and from this libation king Soma is bom." So
on he goes. "You need not make oblation to that little
fire: the whole world is that fire,- and this oblation, this
worship, is continually going on. The gods, and the
angels, and everybody is worshipping it. Man is the
greatest symbol of fire, the body of man,** Here also we
see the ideal becoming practical and Brahman is seen in
everything. The principle that underlies all these stories
is that invented symbolism may be good and helpful, but
already better symbob exist than any we can invent.
You may invent an image through which to worship God,
but a better image already exists, the living man. You
may build a temple in which to worship God, and that
may be good, but a better one, a much higher one,
already exbts, the human body.

\

fbdkriahua Ir'ubJiiu Ltfinri

S14

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA*S WCHIKS

You remember that the Vedas have two parts, the
ceremonial and the knowledge portions. In time oeremo*
nials had multiplied and become so intricate that it was al-
most hopeless to disentangle them, and so in the Upa-
nishads we find that the ceremonials are almost done away
with, but gently, by explaining them. We see that in old
times they had these oblations and sacrifices, then the
philosophers came, and instead of snatching away the
symbols from the hands of the ignorant, instead of taking
the negative position, which we unfortunately find so
general in modem reforms, they gave them something to
take their place. “Here is the symbol of fire,” they said.
“Very good! But here is another symbol, the earth. What
a grand, great symbol! Here is this litde temple, but the
whole universe is a temple ; a man can worship anywhere.
There are the peculiar figures that men draw on the earth,
and there are the altars, but here is the greatest of altars,
the living, conscious human body, and to worship at this
altar is far higher than the worship of any dead symbols.”

We now come to a peculiar doctrine. I do not under-
stand much of it myself. If you can make something out
of it, I will read it to you. When a man dies, who has by
meditation purified himself and got knowledge, he first
goes to light, then from light to day, from day to the light
half of the moon, from that to the six months when the
sun goes to the north, from that to the year, from the year
to the suAii, from the sun to the moon, from the moon to the
lightning, and when he comes to the sphere of lightning; he
meets a person who is not human, and that person leads
him to (the conditioned) Brahman. This is the way of the
gods. When sages and wise persons die, they go that way
and they do not return. What is meant by this month and
year, and all these things, no one understands deady.
Each one gives his own meaning, and some say it is all
nonsense. What is meant by going to die world of the
moon and of the sun, and this person who comes to hdp

PRACTICAL VEDANTA n

MS

the sool after it has readied the sphere of li^tnihg, no
one knows. There is an idea among the Hindus that the
moon is a fdace where 'life exists, and we diall see how
life has ctmie Jhom there. Those that have not attained to
knowledge, but have done good work in this life, first go,
when they die, through smoke, then to night, then to
the dark fifteen days, then to the six months when the
sun goes to the south, and &om that they go to the region
of their forefathers, then, to ether, then to the repon of
the moon, and there become the food of the gods, and
later, are bom as gods and live there so long as their
good works will permit. And when the effect of the good
work has been finished, they ctmie back to earth by the
same route. They first become ether, and then air, and
then smoke, and then mist, then doud, and then fall upon
the earth as raindrops ; then they get into food, which is
eaten up by human beings, and finally betome their
children. Those whose works have been very good take
birth in good families, and those whose works have been
bad take bad births, even in animal bodies. Animals are
continually coming to and going from this earth. That is
'Why the earth is neither full nor empty.

Several ideas we can get also from this, and later on,
perhaps, we shall be able to understand it better, and we
can speculate a little upon what it means. The last part
which deals with how those who have been in heaven
return, is clearer, perhaps, than the first part ; but the
whole idea seems to be this that there is no pmwnent
heaven without realising God: Now some people who have
not realised God, but have done good work in this world,
with the view of enjoying the results, go, when they die,
through this and that place, until they reach heaven, and
there they «e bom in the sune way as we are here, as
childrm the gotht, and they live there as long as their
good woriu anil permit Out of this comes one basic idea
of the Vedanta that everj^ing which has name and form
11-21

S16

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORES

is transient. This earth is transient, because it has name
and fonn, and so the heavens must be transient, because
there also name and form remain. A heaven whidi is
eternal will be contradictory in terms, because every-
thing that has name and form must begin in time, exist
in time, and end in time. These are settled doctrines
of the Vedanta, and as such the heavens are given
up.

We have seen in the SamhitI that the idea of heaven
was that it was eternal, much the same as is prevalent
among Mohammedans and Christians. The Mohammedans
concretise it a little more. They say it is a place where
there are gardens, beneath which rivers run. In the desert
of Arabia water is very desirable, so the Mohammedan
always conceives of his heaven as containing much water.
1 was born in a country where there are six months of
rain every year. I diould think of heaven, I suppose, as
a dry place, and so also would the English people.
These heavens in the Samhita are eternal, and the
departed have beautiful bodies and live with their fore-
fathers, and are happy ever afterwards. There they meet
with their parents, children, and other relatives, and lead
very much the same sort of life as here, only much
happier. All the difficulties and obstructions to happiness
in this life have vanished, and only its good parts and en-
joyments remain. But however comfortable mankind may
consider this state of things, truth is one thing and comfort
is another. There are cases where truth is not comfortable
until we reach its climax. Human nature is very conser-
vative, It does something, and having once done that,
finds it hard to get out of it. The mind will not receive
new thoughts, because they bring discomfort

In the Upanishads, we see a tremendous departure
made. It is declared that these heavens in whidi men live
with the ancestors after death cannot be permanent,
seeing that everything whidi has name and form must die.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA U

S17

If there are heavens with fomts* these heavens must vanUi
in course of time; they may last millions of years, but
there must come a time when they will have to go. With
this idea came another that these souls must come back
to earthy and that heavens are places where they enjoy the
results of their good works, and after these effects are
finished they come back into this earth life again. One
thing is dear from this that mankind had a perception of
the philosophy of causation even at the early time. Later
on we shall see how our philosophers bring that out in the
language of philosophy and logic, but here it is almost in
the language of children. One thing you may remark in
reading these books that it is all internal perception. If
you ask me if this can be practical, my answer is, it has
been practical first, and philosophical next. You can see
that first these things have been perceived and realised
and then written. This world spoke to the early thinkers.
Birds spoke to them, animals spioke to them, the sun and
the moon spoke to them ; and little by little they realised
things, and got into the heart of nature. Not by cogitation
not by the force of logic, not by picking the brains of
others and making a big book, as is the fashion in modem
times, not even as I do, by taking up one of their writings
and making a long lecture, but by patient investigation
and discovery they found out the truth. Its essential
method was practice, and so it must be always. Religion is
ever a practical science, and there ne^er was nor will be
any theological religion. It is praaice first, and knowledge
afterwards. The idea that souls come back is already
there. Those persons who do good work with the idea of
a result, get it, but the result is not permanent. There we
get the idea of causation very beautifully put forward, that
the effect is only commensurate with the cause. As the
cause is, so the effect will be. The cause being finite, the
effect must be finite. If the cause is eternal the effect can
be eternal, but all these causes, doing good work, and all

S18

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

Other things, are cmly finite caus^ and as such cannot
produce infinite remit.

We now come to the other side of the question. As
there cannot be an eternal heaven, on the same grounds,
there cannot be an eternal hell. Suppose I am a very
wicked man, doing evil every minute my life. Still, my
whole life here, compared with my eternal life, is nothing.
If there be an eternal punishment, it will mean that .there
is an infinite effect produced by a finite cause, which can-
not be. If I do good all my life, I cannot have an infinite
heaven ; it would be m^ng the same mistake. But there
is a third course which applies to those who have known
the Truth, to those who have raised It. This is the only
way to get beyond this veil of MSyii — to realise what
Truth is ; and the Upanishads indicate what is meant by
realising the Truth.

It means recognising neither good nor bad, but know-
ing all as coming from the Self ; Self is in everything. It
means denying the universe ; shutting your eyes to it ;
seeing the Lord in hell as wdl as in heaven ; seeing the
Lord in death as well as in life. This is the line of thought
in the passage I have read to you ; the earth is a symbol
of the Lord, the sky is the Lord, the place we fill is the
Lord, everything is Brahman. And this is to be seen,
realised, not simply talked or thought about. We can see
as its logical consequence that when the soul has realised
that everything is full of the Lord, of Brahman, it will not
care whether it goes to heaven, or hell, or anywhere else ;
whether it be bom again on this earth or in heaven. These
things have ceased to have any meaning to that soul,
because every place is the same, every place is the temple
of the Lord, every place has become holy and the
presence of the Lord is all that it sees in heaven, or hdl,
or anywhere dse. Neither good nor bad, neither life nor
death— only the one infinite Brahman exists.

According to the Vedanta, when a man has anrived at

PRACTICAX. VEDANTA S

SI9

that perception, he has becrane free, and he is the only
man who is fit to live in this world. Others are not. The
man who sees evil, how can he live in this world ? His life
is a mass of misery. The man who sees dangers, his life is
a misery ; the man who sees death, his life is a misery.
That man alone can live in this world, he alone can say,
“I enjoy this life, and 1 am happy in this life'% who has
seen the Truth, and the Truth in everything. By the by, I
may tell you that the idea of hell does not occur in the
Vedas anywhere. It comes with the Puranas much later.
The worst punishment according to the Vedas is coming
back to earth, having another chance in this world. From
the very first we see the idea is taking the impersonal turn.
The ideas of punishment and reward are very material,
and they are only consonant with the idea of a human
God, who loves one and hates another, just as we do.
Punishment and reward are only admissible with the exist-
ence of such a God. They had such a God in the Samhita,
and there we find the idea of fear entering, but as soon as
we come to the Upanishads, the idea of fear vanishes, and
the impersonal idea takes its place. It is naturally the
hardest thing for man to understand, this impersonal idea,
for he is always clinging on to the person. Even people
who are thought to be great thinkers get disgusted at the
idea of the Impersonal God. But to me it seems so
absurd to think of God as an embodied man. Which is
the higher idea, a living God, or a dead God ? A God
whom nobody sees, nobody knows, or a God Known ?

The Impersonal God is a living God, a principle. The
difference between personal and impersonal is this, that
the perstmal is only a man, and the impersonal idea is that
He is the angel, the man, the animal, and yet something
more which we cannot see, because impersonality indudes
all porsonalities, is the sum total of everything in the
universe, and infinitely mote besides. “As the one fire
coming into the world is manifesting itself in so many

szo

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

forms, and yet is infinitely more besides,” so is the
Impersonal.

We want to worship a living God. I have seen
nothing but God all my life, nor have you. To see this
chair you first see God, and then the chair in and through
Him. He is everywhere saying, ‘T am”. The moment
you feel "I am”, you are conscious of Existence. Where
shall we go to find God if we cannot see Him in our own
hearts and in every living being ? “Thou art the man.
Thou art the woman, Thou art the girl, and Thou art the
boy. Thou art the old man tottering with a stidt. Thou
art the young man walking in the pride of his strength.”
Thou art all that exists, a wonderful living God who is the
only fact in the universe. This seems to many to be a
terrible contradiction to the traditional God who lives
behind a veil somewhere and whom nobody ever sees.
The priests only give us an assurance that if we follow
them, listen to their admonitions, and walk in the way they
mark out for us — ^then when we die, they will g^ve us a
passport to enable us to see the face of GodI What are
all these heaven ideas but simply modifications of this
nonsensical priestcraft ?

Of course the impersonal idea is very destructive } it
takes away all trade from the priests, churches, and
temples. In India there is a famine now, but there are
temples in each one of which there are jewels worth a
king's ransom I If the priests taught this Impersonal idea
to the people, their occupation would be gone. Yet we
have to teach it unselfishly, without priestcraft. You are
God and so am I ; who obeys whmn ? Who wordiips
whom ? You are the highest temple of God ; 1 would rather
worship you than any temple, image, of BiUe. Why are
some people so contradictory in their thought ? Tliey are
like fish slipping throng our fingers. They say they are
hard-headed practical men. Very good. But what is more
practical than worshipping here, worshipping you ? I see

PRACnCAL VEDANTA H 821

you, feel you, and I know you are God. The Moham-
medan says, there is no God but Allah. The Vedanta
says, there is nothing that is not God. It may frighten
many of you, but you will understand it by degrees. The
living God is within you, and yet you are building churches
and temples and believing all sorts of imaginary nonsense.
The only God to worship is the human soul in the human
body. Of course all animals are temples too, but man is
the highest, the Taj Mahal of temples. If I cannot worship
in that, no other temple will be of any advantage. The
moment 1 have realised God sitting in the temple of every
human body, the moment I stand in reverence before every
human being and see God in him — that moment I am free
from bondage, everything that binds vanishes, aiid 1 am
free.

This is the most practical of all worship. It has
nothing to do with theorising and speculation. Yet it
frightens many. They say it is not right. They go on
theorising about old ideals told them by their grandfathers,
that a God somewhere in heaven had told some one that
he was God. Since that time we have only theories. This
is practicality according to them> and our ideas are im-
practical! No doubt, the Vedanta says that each one
must have his own path, but the path is not the goal. The
worship of a God in heaven and all these things are not
bad, but they are only steps towards, the Truth and not
the Truth itself. They are good and beautiful, and some
wonderful ideas are there, but the Vedanta says at every
point, "*My friend. Him whom you are wordiipping as un-
known, I worship as thee. He whom you are worshipping
as unknown and are seeking for, throughout the universe,
has been with you all the time. You are living through
Him, and He is the Eternal Witness of the universe/*
**He whom all the Vedas worship, nay, more. He who is
always present in the eternal T, He existing, the whole
universe exisu. He is the lig^t and life of the universe.

S22

SWAMl VIVERANANDA’S WCMRKS

If the ‘I’ were not in you, you would not see the sun,
everything would be a dark mass. He shining, you see
the world.”

One question is generally asked, and it is this that this
may lead to a tremendous amount of difiiculty. Everyone
of us will think, “I am God, and whatever I do or think
must be good, for God can do no evil.” In the first place,
even taking this danger of misinterpretation for granted,
can it be proved that on the other side the same danger
does not exist ? They have been worshipping a God in
heaven separate from them, and of whom they are much
afraid. They have been bom shaking with fear, and all
their life they will go on shaking. Has the world been
made much better by this ? Those who have understood
and worshipped a Personal God, and those who have
understood and worshipped an Impersonal God, on which
side have been the great workers of the world — ^gigantic
workers, gigantic moral powers ? Certainly on the Im-
pmstmal. How can you expect morality to be developed
through fear ? It can never be. "Where one sees another,
where one hears another, that is Maya. When one does
not see another, when one does not hear another, when
everything has become the Atman, who sees whom, who
perceives whom ?” It is all He, and all I, at the same
time. The soul has become pure. Then, and then alone
we understand what love is. Love cannot come through
fear, its^basis is freedmn. When we really begin to love
the world, then we understand what is meant by brother*
hood or mankind, and not before.

So, it is not rig^t to say Uiat the Impersonal idea will
lead to a tremendous amount of evil in the world, as if the
other doctrine never lent itself to works evil, as if it did
not lead to sectarianinn deluging the world with blood and
causing men to tear each other to pieces. "My God is the
9«atest God, let us decide it by a bee figbt." That is the
outcome of duahsm all over the world. Come out into the

PRACTICAL VEDANTA II US

broad open light day, come out from the little narrow
paths, for how can the infinite soul rest content to live and
die in amall rots? . Come out into the universe of Light.
Everything in tibte universe is yours, stretch out your arms
and embrace it with love. If you ever felt you wanted
to do that, you have felt God.

You remember that passage in the sermon of Buddha,
how he sent a thought of love towards the south, the
north, the east, and the west, above and below, until the
whole universe was filled with this love, so grand, great,
and infinite. When you have that feeling, you have true
personality. The whole universe is one person ; let go
the little things. Give up the small for the Infinite, give
up small, enjoyments -for infinite bliss. It is all yours, for
the Impersonal indudes the Personal. So God it Personal
and Impersonal at the same time. And Man, -the Infinite,
Impersonal Man, is manifesting Himself as person. We
the infinite have limited ourselves, as it were, into small
parts. The Vedanta says that Infinity is our true nature ;
it will never vanish, it will abide for ever. But we are
limiting ourselves by our Karma, which like a chain round
our necks has dragged us into this limitation. Break that
chain and be free. Trample law under your feet. There
is no law in human nature, there is no destiny, no fate.
How can there be law in infinity? Freedom is its watch-
word. Freedom is its nature, its birtl\yig^t. Be free, and
then have any number of personalities you like. Then
we will play like the actor who comes upon the stage and
plays the part of a beggar. Contrast him with the actual
beggar walking in the streets. The scene is, perhaps, the
same in both cases, the words are, perhaps, the same, but
yet what difference! The one enjoys his beggary while
the other is suffering misery from it. And what makes
this difference? The one is free and the other is bound.
The actor knows his b^gary is not true, but that he has
assumed it for play, while the real beggar thinks that

S24

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

it is his too familiar state and that he has to bear it
whether he wills it or not. This is the law. So long as we
have no knowledge of our real nature, we are beggars,
jostled about by every fimx in nature ; and made daves
of by everything in nature ; we cry all over the world for
help, but help never comes to us; we cry to imaginary
beings, and yet it never comes. But still we hope hdp
will come, and thus in weeping, wailing, and hoping, one
life is passed, and the same play goes on and on.

Be free ; hope for nothing from anyone. I am sure if
you look back upon your lives you will find that you were
always vainly trying to get help from others which never
came. All the help that has come was from within your-
selves. You only had the fruits of what you yourselves
worked for, and yet you were strangely hoping all the time
for help. A rich man's parlour is always full ; but if you
notice, you do not find the same people there. The visitors
are always hoping that they will get something from those
wealthy men, but they never do. So are our lives spent
in hoping, hoping, hoping, which never comes to an end.
Give up hope, says the Vedanta. Why should you hope?
You have everything, nay, you are everything. What are
you hoping for? If a king goes mad, and runs about trying
to find the king of his country, he will never find him,
because he is the king himself. He may go through every
village and city in his own country, seeking in every
house, weeping and wailing, but he will never find him,
because'he is the king himself. It is better that we know
we are God and give up this fool’s search after Him;
and knowing that we are God we become happy and
contented. Give up all these mad pursuits, and then play
your part in the universe, as an actor on the stage.

The whole vision is changed, and instead of an eternal
prison this world has become a playground ; instead of
a land of competition it is a land of Miss, where there is
perpetual spring; flowers bloom and butterflies flit about.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA 11

SIS

This very world becomes heaven, whidh {ormerly was
hell. To the eyes of the bound it is a tremendous place
of torment, but.to the eyes of the tree it is quite otherwise.
This one life is the universal life, heavens and all those
places are here. All 'the gods are here, the prototypes of
man. The gods did not create man after their type, but
man created gods. And here are the prototypes, here is
Indra, here is Varuna. and all the gods of the universe.
We have been projecting our little doubles, and we are
the originals of these gods, we are the real, the only gods
to be worshipped. This is the view of the Vedanta, and
this its practicality. When we have become free, we
need not go mad and throw up society and rush off to
die in the forest or the cave ; we shall remain where we
were, only we shall understand the whole thing. The
same phenomena will remain, but with a new meaning.
We do not know the world yet ; it is ojily through
freedom that we see what it is, and understand its nature.
We shall see then that this so-called law, or fate, or
destiny occupied only an infinitesimal part of our nature.
It was only one side, but on the other side there was
freedom all the time. We did not know this, and that is
why we have been trying to save ourselves from evil by
hiding our faces in the ground, like the hunted hare.
Through delusion we have been trying to forget our
nature, and yet we could not ; it was always calling upon
us, and all our search after God or gods, or external free-
dom, was a search after our real nature. We mistook the
voice. We thought it was from the fire, or from a god or
the sun, or moon, or surs, but at. last we have found
that it was frcun within ourselves. Within ourselves is this
eternal voice yaking of eterqal freedom: its music is
eternally going on. Part of this music of the Soul has
become the earth, the law, this universe, but it was always
OUTS and always will be. In one word, the ideal of
Vedanta is to know man as he really is, and this is its

926

SWAMl V1VEKANANDA*& WORKS

message, that if you cannot worship your brother man,
the manifested God, how can you'' worship a God who
is unmanifested?

Do you not remember what the Bible says, “If you
cannot love your brother whom you* have seen, how can
you love God whom you have not seen?” If you cannot
see God in the human face, how can you see him in the
clouds, or in images made of dull, dead matter, or in mere
fictitious stories of our brain? 1 shall call you religious
from the day you begin to see God in men and women,
and then you will understand what is meant by turning
the left cheek to the man who strikes you on the right.
When you see man as God, everything, even the tiger,
will be welcome. Whatever comes to you is but the
Lord, the Eternal, the Blessed One, appetuing to us in
various forms, as our father, and mother, and friend, and
child — they are our own soul playing with us.

As our human relationships can thus be made divine,
so our relationship with God may take any of these forms
and we can look upon Him as our father, or mother, or
friend, or beloved. Calling God Mother is a higher ideal
than calling Him Father ; and to call Him Friend is still
higher ; but the highest is to regard Him as the Beloved.
The highest point of all is to see no difference between
lover and beloved. You may remember, perhaps, the old
Persian story, of how a lover came and knocked at the
door of ^the beloved and was asked, “Who are you?” He
answered, “It is I”, and there was no response. A
second time he came,' and exclaimed, "I am here”, but
the door was not opened. The third time he came, and
the voice asked from inside, “Who is there?" He
replied, "I am thyself> my beloved”, and the door
opened. So is the relation between God and ourselves.
He is in everything. He is everything. Every man and
woman is the palpable, blissful, living God. 'Who says
God is unknown ? Who says He is to be searched after ?

PRACTKAL VEDANTA II W

W« have found God eternally. We have been living
in Him eternally; everywhere He is eternally known,
eternally w<nahi{^>ed.

Then comes another idea, that other forms of worship
ate not errors. This is one of the great points to be
remembmed, that those who worship God through cere-
monials and forms, however crude we may think them to be,
are not in error. It is the journey from truth to truth,
from lower truth to higher truth. Darkness is less light ;
evil is less good ; impurity it less purity. It must always
be borne in mind that we should see others svith eyes of
love, with sympathy, knowing that they are going along
the same path that we have trodden. If you are free, you
must know that all will be so socmer or later, and if you
are free, how can you see the impermanent? If you
are really pure, how do you see the impure? For what
is within, is without. We cannot see impurity without
having it inside ourselves. This is one of the practical
sides of Vedanta, and I hope that we shall all try to carry
it into our lives. Our whole life here is to carry this into
practice, but the one great point we gain is that we
shall work with satisfaction and contentment, instep of
with discontent and dissatisfaction, for we know that
Truth is within us, we have It as our birthright, and we
have only to manifest It, and make It tangible.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA

PART III

(Delivered in London, 17th November 1896)

In the Chhindogya Upanishad we read that a sage
called Ndrada came to another called Sanatkumdra, and
asked him various questions, of which one was, if religion
was the cause of things as they are. And Sanatkumara
leads him, as it were, step by step, telling him that there is
something higher than this earth, and something higher
than that, and so on, till he comes to Ak&sha, ether. Ether
is higher than light, because in the ether are the sun and
the moon, lightning and the stars ; in ether we live, and in
ether we die. Then the question arises, if there is anything
higher than that, and Sanatkumara tells him of Prina.
This Prana, according to the Vedanta, is the principle of
life. It is like ether, an omnipresent principle ; and all
motion, either in the body or anywhere else, is the 'work
of this Prana. It is greater than Akasha, and through it
everything lives. Prana is in the mother, in the father,
in the sister, in the teacher. Prana is the knower.

I will read another passage, where Shvetaketu asks his
father about the Truth, and the father teaches him different
things, and concludes by saying, “That which is the fine
cause in all these things, of It arc all these things made.
That is the All, that is Truth, thou art That, O Shveta-
ketu.’' And then he gives various examples. “As a bee,
O Shvetaketu, gathers honey firom different flowers, and as
the different honeys do not know that they are from various
trees, and from various flowers, so all of us, having come
to that Existence, know not that we have done so. Now.
that which is that subtle essence, in It all that exists has

PRACTICAL VEDANTA Ol

3S9

its self. It is the True. It is the Self and thou, O Shveta-
ketu, are That/* He gives another example of the rivers
running down to the ocean. **As the rivers, when they are
in the ocean, do not know that they have been various
rivers, even so when we come out of that Existence, we
do not know that we are That. O Shvetaketu, thou art
That.** So on he goes with his teachings.

Now there are two principles of knowledge. The one
principle is that we know by referring the particular to
the general, and the general to the universal ; and the
second is that anything of which the explanation is sought
is to be explained so far as possible from its own nature.
Taking up the first principle, we see that all our knowledge
really consists of classifications, going higher and higher.
When something happens singly, we are, as it were,
dissatisfied. When it can be shown that the same thing
happens again and again, we are satisfied and call it law.
When we find that one apple falls, we are dissatisfied ;
but when we find that all apples fall, we call it the law of
gravitation and are satisfied. The fact is that from the
particular we deduce the general.

When we want to study religion, we should apply this
scientific process. The same principle also holds good
here, and as a fact we find that that has been the method
all through. In reading these books from which I have
been translating to you, the earliest idea that I can trace is
this principle of going from the particular to the general.
We see how the ''bright ones’* became merged into one
principle ; and likewise in the ideas of the cosmos we find
the ancient thinkers going higher and higher — from die
fine elements they go to finer and more embracing
elements, and from these particulars they come to one
omnipresent ether, and from that even they go to an all-
embracing force, or Prana ; and through all this runs the
principle, that one is not separate from the others. It is
the very ether that exists in the higher form of Prana, or

830

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’8 WORKS

the higher fonn Prana onuxetes, so to say, and besoiiies
ether ; and that ethet becomes still grosser, and so on.

The generalisation of the Personal God is another
case in point. We have seen how this generalisation was
reached, and was called the sum total of all con-
sciousness. But a difficulty arises — it is an incomplete
generalisation. We take up only one side of the facts
of nature, the fact of consciousness, and upon that we
generalise, but the other side is left out. So, in the first
place it is a defective generalisation. There is another
insufikiency, and that relates to the second principle.
Everything should be explained from its own nature.
There may have been people who thought that every apple
that fell to the ground was dragged down by a ghost, but
the explanation is the law of gravitation ; and although we
know it is not a perfect explanation, yet it is much better
than the other, because it is derived from the nature of the
thing itself, while the other posits an extraneous cause. So
throughout the whole range of our knowledge ; the
explanation whidi is based upon the nature of the thing
itself is a scientific explanation, and an explanation which
brings in an outside agent is unscientific.

So the explanation of a Personal God as the creator of
the universe has to stand that test. If that God is outside of
nature, having nothing to do with nature, and this nature
is the outcome of the command of that God and produced
from nothing, it is a very unscientific theory, and this has
been the weak point of every Theistic religion throughout
the ^s. These two defects we find in what is generally
called the theory of monotheism, the theory of a Personal
God. with all the qualities of a human being multiplied
very much, who, by His will, created this universe out of
nothing and yet is separate horn it. This leads us into
two difficulties.

As we have seen, it is not a sufficient generdisation.
and secondly, it is not an explanation of nature from

ntACnCAL VEDANTA lU SSI

nature. It hcAds that the effect is not the cause, that
the cause is entirdy separate from the effect Yet all
human knowledge shows that the e^t is but the cause
in another form. To this idea the discoveries of modem
sdence are tending every day, and the latest theory
that has been accepted on all sides is the theory of
evolution, the prindjde of which is that the effect is but
the cause in another form, a readjustment of the cause,
and the cause takes the form of the effect. The theory
of creation out of nothing would be laughed at by modem
sdentists.

Now, can rdigion stand these tests? If there be any
rdigious theories which can stand these two tests, they will
be acceptable to the modem mind, to the thinking
mind. Any other theory which we ask the modem man to
bdieve, on the authority of priests, or churches, or books,
he is unable to accept, and the result is a hideous mass of
unbelief. Even in those in whom there is an external dis-
play of bdief, in their hearts there is a tremendous amount
of unbelief. The rest shrink away from religion, as it were,
give it up, regarding it as priestcraft only.

Religion has been reduced to a sort of national form.
It is one of our very best social remnants ; let it remain.
But the real necessity which the grandfather of the modem
man felt for it is gone ; he no longer finds it satisfactory to
his reason. The idea of such a Personal God, and such a
creation, the idea which is generally known as monotheinn
in every religion, cannot hold its own any longer. In India
it could not h<dd its own because of the Buddhists, and
that was the very point where they gained their victory in
ancient times. They showed that if we allow that nature
is possessed of infinite power, and that nature can work
out all its wants, it is simply unnecessary to insist that there
is something besides nature. Even the soul is unnecessary.

Hw discussion about substance and <lualities is very
old. and you wiU sometunes find that the old superstition

1I-S2

SS2 SWAAH VtVUANAMQA‘8 WOltXS

lives even at the pieseat day. Most of yma have i«ad how,,
during the Middle Ages, and, I am sorry to say, even mudi
later, this was one of the subjects of discussion, whether
qualities adhered to substance, whether length, breadth,
and thickness adhered to the substance which we call dead
matter, whether, the substance remaining, the qualities are
there or not To this our Buddhist says, "You have no
g^und for maintaining the existence of such a substance ;
the qualities are all that exist; you do not see beyond
them." This is just the position of most of our modem
agnostics. For it is this fight of the substance and quali*
ties that, on a higher plane, takes the form of the fight
between noumenon and phenomenon. There is the phe-
nomenal world, the universe of continuous change, and
there is something behind which does not change ; and
this duality of existence, noumenon and phenomenon,
some hold, is true, and others with better reason daim
that you have no^rig^t to admit the two, for what we see,
feel, and think is only the phenomenon. You have no
right to assert there is anything beyond phenomenon ; and
there is no answer to this. The only answer we get is
from the monistic theory of the Vedanta. It is true that
only one exists, and that one is either phenomenon or
noumenon. It is not true that there are two— something
changing, and, in and' through that, something which does
not change ; but it is the one and the same thing which
appeari as changing, and which is in reality undiangeaMe.
We have ccune to think of the body, and mind, and soul
as many, but really there is only one ; and that one is
appearing in all these various forms. Take the well-
known illustration of the monists, the rope 'appearing as
the snake. S<»ne . people, in the dark or through some
other cause, mistake the rope for the snake, but when
knowledge comes, the snake vanidies and it is found to
be a rope. By this illustration we see that v^eii die
snake exists in the mind, the rope has vanUtod, and

PRACnCAL VEDANTA UI

m

when the iropb dcitta, the tnake has gone. When we was
phenomenon, and phencnhenon only, around die
noumaaon has vanished, but when we see the noiunenon,
the unchangeable, it naturally follows that the phraomenon
has vanished. Now, we understand better the position of
both the realist and the idealist. The realist sees dw
phenomenon only, and the idealist lodis to the noumenon.
For the idealist, the really gmuine idealist, who has truly
arrived at the power of perc^tion, whereby he can get
away from all ideas of chai^, for him the changeful
universe has vanished, and he has the right to say it is all
delusion, there is no change. The realist at the same time
looks at the changeful. For him the unchangeable has
vanished, and he has a right to say this is all real.

What is the outcome of this philosophy? It is that the
idea of Personal God is not sufBdent. We have to get to
something higher, to the Impersonal idea. It is the only
logical step that we can take. Not that the personal idea
would be destroyed by that, not that we supply pnxd that
the Personal God does not exist, but we mutt go to the
Impersonal for the explanation dE the personal, for the
Impersonal is a mudi hig^ genmlisation than the
personal. The Impersonal only can be Infinite, the per*
sonal it limited. Thus we preserve the personal and do
not destroy it Often the doubt annes to us that if we
arrive ajt the idea of the Impersonal God, the personal will
be destroyed, if we arrive at the idea of the Impersonal
man, the personal will be lost. But the Vedantic idea is
not the destruction the individual, but its real preserva-
tion. We cannot prove the individusd by any other means
but by referring to the universal, by proving that this in-
dividual is really the universal. If we think of the in-
dividual as sq>arate Grom everything dse in the universe,
it cannot stuid a minute. Such a thing never existed.

Secondly, by the application of the seomd prindide,
that the explanation of everything must come out of the

8$4

SWAMl VIVEKANANIM’S WORKS

nature ct the thing, we are led to a still bolder idea, and
one more difficult to understand. It is nodiing less than
this, that the Impersonal Being, our hig^t generalisation,
is in ourselves, and we are That. "O Shvetaketu, thou art
That.” You are that Impersonal Being ; that God fm:
whom you have been searching all over the universe is all
the time yourself — ^yourself not in the personal sense but in
the Impersonal. The man we know now, the manifested,
is personalised, but the reality of this is the Impersonal.
To understand the personal we have to refer it to the
Impersonal, the particular must be referred to the general,
and that Impersonal is the Truth, the Self of man.

There will be various questions in connection with this,
and I shall try to answer them as we go on. Many diffi-
culties will arise, but first let us clearly understand the posi-
tion of monism. As manifested beings we appear to be
separate, but our reality is one, and the less we think of
ourselves as separate from that One, the better for us.
The more we think of ourselves as separate from the
Whole, the more miserable we become. From this monistic
principle we get at the basis of ethics, and I venture to say
that we cannot get any ethics from anywhere else. We
know that the oldest idea of ethics was the will of some
particular being or beings, but few are ready to accept that
now, because it would be only a partial generalisation.
The Hindus say we must not do- this or that because the
Vedas say so, but the Christian is not going to obey the
authority of the Vedas. The Christian says you must do
this and not do that because the Bible says so. That will
not be binding on those who do not believe in the Bible.
But we must have a theory which is large enough to take
in all these various grounds. Just as there are millions of
people who are ready to believe in a Posonal Creatm:,
there have also been thousands of the brightest minds in
this world who felt that such ideas were not sufficient for
them, and wanted something higher, and wherever religion

PRACTICAL VEDANTA III

S55

was not bioad aiough to indude all these minds, the result
was that the brightest rnind^ in society were always out-
side of religion ; and never was this so marked as at the
present time, especially in Europe.

To include these minds, therefore, religion must
become broad enough. Everything it daims must be
judged from the standpoint of reasoru Why religions
should claim that they are not bound to abide by the
standpoint of reason, no one knows. If one docs not take
the standard of reason, there cannot be any true judgment,
even in the case of religions. One religion may ordain
something very hideous. For instance, the Mohammedan
religion allows Mohammedans to kill all who are not of
their religion. It is dearly stated in the Koran, '*Kill the
infidels if they do not l^ecome Mohammedans/' They
must be put to fire and sword. Now if we tell a Moham-
medan that this is wrong, he will naturally' adi, **How do
you know that? How do you 'know it is not good? My
book says it is.*' If you say your book is older, there will
come the Buddhist, and say, my book is much older still.
Then will come the Hindu, and say, my books are the
oldest of all. Therefore referring to books will not do.
Where is the standard by which you can compare ? You
will say, look at the Sermon on the Mount, and the
Mohammedan will reply, look at the Ethics of the Koran.
I'Jic Mohammedan will say, who is the arbiter as to which
is the better of the two? Neither the New Testament nor
the Koran can be the arbiter in a quarrel between them.
There must be some independent authority, and that can-
not be any book, but something which is universal ; and
what is more universal than reason? It has been said
that reason is not strong enough ; it does not always help
us to get at the Truth ; many times it makes mistakes, and,
therefore, the conclusion is that we must believe in the
authority of a church \ That was said to me by a Roman
Catholic, but I could not see the logic of it. On the other

986

SWAMl VIVOCANAMOA'S WORKS

hand I dumld say, if reason be so weak« a body of {ffietts
would be weaker, and Z am not going to accept thek^
verdict, bnt I will abide by my reason, because with sdl
its weakness there is some chance of my getting at truth
through it ; while, by the other means, there is no sudi
ht^ at alL

We should,, therefore, follow reason and also sym*
pathtse with those who do not come to any sort of belief
following reason. For it is better that mankind should
become atheist by followii^ reason than Uindly believe in
two hundred millions of gods on the authority of anybody.
What we want is progress, development, realisation. No
theories ever made men higher. No amount of books can
help us to become purer. The only power is in realisation,
and that lies in oursdves and comes from thinking. Let
men think. A dod of earth never thinks ; but it remains
only a lump of earth. The j^ory of man is that he is a
thinking being. It is the nature of man to think and therein
he differs from animals. I believe in reason and follow
reason having seen enough of the evils of authority, for
1 was bom in a country where they have gone to the
extreme of authority.

The Hindus believe that creation has come out of the
Vedas. How do you know there is a cow? Because the
word cow is in the Vedas. How do you know there is a
man outside? Because the word man is there. If it had
not been^ there would have been no man outside. Ihat is
what they say. Authority with a vengeancel And it is
not studied as I have studied it, but some' of the most
powerful minds have taken it up and spun out wonderful
logical theories round it. They have reasoned it out,
and there it stands— a whole system of philosophy; and
thousands of the brightest intellects have been dedicated
through thousands of years to tbe working out of this
theory. Sudi has been tbe power of audiority, ard great
ate the dai^;ets thereof. It stunts the growth of humaj^yj

■ niAxncictt. m

naAynwxat not taacget duit we went growth. Even In ell
idetive truth, more then the truib itsdf, we went die
exeidie. Thtt is our life.

" The mcmistic theory hes this merit thet it is the most
rethmel of efi the rdigious theories that we can conceive
of. Every other themy, evmy concepdtm God whidi
u pertlel and little and pononal is not ratitmal. And yet
monism has this grandeur that it embraces all these partial
conceptions of God as being necessary for many. Some
people say that this persond explanation is irrational. But
it is consding ; they want a consoling rdigion and we
understand that it is necessary for them. The dear light
of truth very few in diis life can bear, much less live up to.
It is necessary, therefore, that this comfortable religion
should exist ; it helps many souls to a better one. Small
minds whose circumference is very limited and which
require little things to build Uiem up, never v^ure to soar
hig^ in thought. Their conceptkms are very good mid
helpful to them, even if only of little gods and symbols.
But you have to understand the Impersonal, for it is in and
through that alone that these others can be explained.
Take, for instance, the idea of a Personal God. A man who
understands and believes in the Impersonal— John Stuart
Mill, for example— may say that a Personal God is im-
posnUe, and cannot be proved. I admit with him that a
Personal God cannot be demonstrated. But He is the
highest reading of the Impersonal thht can be reached by
the human intellect, and what else is the universe but
various readings of the Absolute? It is like a book befme
us, and each one has broi^t his intellect to read it, and
each one has to read it for himsdf. There is something
which is common in the intellect of all men ; therefore
certain diings aj^ar to be the same to the intellect tMf
mankind. That you smd 1 see a chair proves that , there is
something omamon to both our minds. Suppose a bdng
comes with utofoer sense, he will not see the.dudr at all ;

SS8

SWAMl.VIVEKANAraDA'S WORKS

but all beings similarly constituted will see the same things.
Thus this universe itsdf is the Absolute, the undiai^eable,
the noumenon ; and the phenomenon constitutes the read-
ing thereof. For you wOl first find that all phenomena are
finite. Every phenomenon that we can see, feel, or think
of, is finite, limited by our knowledge, and the Personal
God as we conceive of Him is in fact a phenomenon.
The very idea of causation exists only in the phenomenal
world, and God as the cause of this universe must naturally
be thought of as limited, and yet He is the same Im-
personal God. This very universe, as we have seen, is the
same Impersonal Being read by our intellect. Whatever is
reality in the universe is that Impersonal Being, and the
forms and conceptions are given to it by our intellects.
Whatever is real in this table is that Being, and the table
form and all other forms are given by our intellects.

Now, motion, for instance, which is a necessary
adjunct of the phenomenal, cannot be predicated of the
Universal. Every little bit, every atom inside the universe, is
in a constant state of change and motion, but the universe
as a whole is unchangeable, because motion mr diange
is a relative thing; we can only think of something in
motion in comparison with something which is not moving.
There must be two things in order to understand motion.
The whole mass of the universe, taken as a unit, cannot
move. In regard to what will it move ? It cannot be said
to change. With regard to what will it change ? So the
whole is the Abscdute ; but within it every particle is in a
constant state of flux and change. It is unchmigeable and
changeable at the same time. Impersonal and Personal in
one. This is our conception of the universe, of modem
and of God, and that is what is meant by “Thou art That**.
Thus we see that the Impersonal instead of doing away
with the personal, the Absolute instead pulling down
the relative, only explains it to the full satisfaction of our
reason and heart. The Perstmal God and adl that exists in

PRACnCAL VEDANTA m

m

Uie untvene are the same Impersonal Being seen through
our minds. When we shall be rid our minds, our
little personalities, we slull become one with It. This is
what is meant by *‘T1iou art That”. For we must know
our true nature, the Absolute.

The finite, manifested man forgets his source and
thinks himsdf to be entirely separate. We, as person-
alised, differentiated beings, forget our reality, and the
teaching of monism is not that we shall give up these
differentiations, but we must learn to understand what
they are. We are in reality that Infinite Being, and our
personalities represent so many channels through which
this Infinite Reality is manifesting Itself ; and the whole
mass of changes which we call evolution is brought about
by the soul trying to manifest more and more of its infinite
energy. We cannot stop anywhere <m this skle of the
Infinite ; our power, and blessedness, and wisdom,
cannot but grow into the Infinite. Infinite power and
existence and blessedness are ours, and we have not to
acquire them ; they are our own, and we have only to
manifest them.

This is the central idea of monism, and one that is so
hard to undentand. From my childhood everyone around
me taught weakness ; I have been told ever since I was
born that I was a weak thing. It is very difficult for me
now to realise my own strength, but by analysis and
reasoning I gain knowledge of my oVn strength, I realise
it. All the knowledge that we have in this world, where
did it come from ? It was within us. What knowledge is
outside ? None. Knowledge was not in matter ; it was
in man all the time. Nobody ever created knowledge ;
man brings it from within. It is lying there. The whole
that big banyan tree which covers acres of ground,
was in the little seed which was, perhaps, no bigger than
one eighth of a mustard seed ; all that mass of energy
was there confined. The gigantic intellect, we know, lies

S40

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

coikd up in tlw prutoi^asmic cdl, and why duradd not the
infinite energy ? We know that it is so. Xt may seem Iflbe
a paradox, but is true. Each one of us has come oat
of one protoplawnic cell, and all the powers we possess
were coiled up there. You cannot say they came from
food; for if you heap up food mountains hij^ what
power comes out of it ? Hie energy was there, potentially
no doubt, but still there. So is infinite power in the soul
of man, whether he knows it or not. Its manifesmtion is
only a question of being conscious it. Slowly this
infinite giant is, as it were, waking up, becoming conscious
of his power, and arousing himself ; and with his growing
consciousness, more and more of his bonds are breaking,
chains are bursting asunder, and the day is sure to come
when, with the full consciousness his infinite power
and wisdom, the giant will rise to his feet and stand erect.
Let us all help to hasten that glorious consummation.

PRACTICAL VEDANTA

PART IV

(Delivered in London, 18th November 1896)

We have been dealing more with the univatsai so far.
This morning I shall try to place before you the Vedantic
ideas of the relation of the particular to the universal. As
we have seen, in the dualistic form of Vedic doctrines,
the earlier forms, there was a clearly defined particular
and limited soul for every iMing. There have been a great
many theories about this particular soul in each individual,
but the main discussion was between the ancient Vedant-
ists and the ancient Buddhists, the former believing in
the individual soul as complete in itsdf, the lattm denying
tn toto the existence of such an individual soul. As 1 told
you the other day, it is pretty much the same discussiem
you have in Europe as to substance' and quality, one set
holding that behind the qualities there is something as
substance, in which the qualities inhere ; and the other
denying the existence of such a substance as being un>
necessary, for the qualities may live by themselves. The
most ancient theory of the soul, of course, is based upon
the argument of self-identity — am* I'’— that the I of
yesterday is the I of today, and the 1 of today will be
the I tomorrow ; diat in spite of all the changes that
are happening to the body, I yet believe that I am the
same'I. This seems to have been the central argument
with those who bdieved in a limited, and yet perfectly
Gomi^ete, individual souL

On the other hand, the ancient Buddhists denied the
necessity of suth an nsumption. They brou|^t forward
the argnment that all that we know, and all that we

942

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

possibly can know, axe simply these changes. The
pcsiting of an unchangeable and unchanging substance is
simply superfluous, and even if there were any sudi un-
changeable thing, we could never understand it, nor
should we ever able to cognise it in any sense of the
word. The same discussion you will find at the present
time going on in Europe between the religionists and the
idealists on the one side, and the modem positivists and
agnostics on the other ; one set believing there is some-
thing which does not change (of whom the latest repre-
sentative is your Herbert Spencer), that we catch a glimpse
of something which is unchangeable. And the other is
represented by the modern Comtists and modern Agnostics.
Those of you who were interested a few years ago in the dis-
cussions between Herbert Spencer and Frederick Harrison
might have noticed that it was the liame old difficulty, the
one party standing for a substance behind the changeful,
and the other party denying the necessity for such an
assumption. One party says we cannot conceive of changes
without conceiving of something which does not change ;
the other party brings out the argument that this is
superfluous ; we can only conceive of something which is
changing, and as to the unchanging, we can neither know,
feel, nor sense it.

In India this great question did not find its solution
in very ancient times, because we have seen that the
assunipi^on of a substance which is behind the qualities,
and which is not the qualities, ran never be substantiated ;
nay, even the argument from self-identity, from memory,
— that I am the I of yesterday because 1 remember it, and
therefore I have been a continuous something — cannot be
substantiated. The other quibble that is generally put
forward is a mere delusion of words. For instance, a
man may take a long .series of such sentence as "1 do”,
‘T go”, ‘T dream”, 'T sleep", "I move”, and h^ you
will find it claimed that the doing, going, dreaming etc.#

PRACTfCAL VEOAHTA IV

S4S

have beat dianging, but what remained constent was that
"1”. As such they conclude that the *‘l” is something
which is constant and an individual in itself, but all these
.changes belong to the body. This, though apparently very
convincing and clear, is based upon the mere play on
words. The 'T* and the doing, going, and dreaming may
be separate in black and white, but no one can separate
them in his mind.

When I eat, I think of myself as eating — am
identified with eating. When I run, I and the running are
not two separate things. Thus the argument from
personal identity does not seem to be very strong. The
other argument from memory is also weak. If the
identity of my being is represented by my memory, many
things which I have foigotten are lost from that identity.
And we know that people under certain conditions forget
their whole past. In many cases of lunacy a man will
think of himself as made of glass, or as being an animal.
If the existence of that man depends on memory, he has
become glass, which not being the case we cannot make
the identity of the Self depend on such a flimsy substance
as memory. Thus we see that the soul as a limited yet
complete and continuing identity cannot be established
as separate from the qualities. We cannot establish a
narrowed-down, limited existence to which is attached a
bunch of qualities.

On the other hand, the argumetft of the ancient Bud*
dhists seems to be stronger — ^that we do not know, and
cannot know, anything that is beyond the bunch of
' qualities. According to them, the soul consists of a bundle
of quidida called sensations and feelings. A mass of such
is what is called the soul, and this mass is continually
changing.

The Advaidst theory of the soul reconciles both these
positions. The posidon of the Advaidst is diat it is true
that we caimot think of the substance as separate from

^ SWiUil VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

the qualities, we cumot think change, and noS<hai^
at the same time ; it would be impossible. But the very
thing which is the'substance is the quality ; substance aad
quality ax's not two things. It is ^ unchangeable that
is appearing as the changeable. The unchangeable
substance of the universe is not something separate Srcnn
it. The noumenon is not something different from the
phenomena, but it is the very noumenon which has
become the phenomena. There is a soul which is un-
changing, and what we call feelings and perceptions, nay.
even the body, are the very soul, seen from another point
of view. We have got into the habit of thinking that we
have bodies and souls and so forth, but really speaking,
there is only one.

When I think of myself as the body, I am only a
body ; it is meaningless to say I am something else. And
when 1 think of myself as the soul, the body vanishes,
and the perception of the body does not remain. None can
get the perception of the Self without his perception of
the body having vanished, none can get perc^tion of the
substance without his perception of the qualities having
vanished.

The ancient illustration of Advaita, of the rope being
taken for a snake, may elucidate the point a little more.
When a man mistakes the rope for a snake, the rope has
vanidied, and when he takes it for a rope, the snake has
vanishedyi and the rope only remains. The ideas of dual
or treble existence come from reasoning on insufficient
data, and we read them in books or hear about them, until
we come under the delusion that we really have a dual
peroeptimi of the soul and the body ; but sudi a percq^tkm
never nedly exists. T^e perception is either of die body
of the soul. It requires no arguments to prove it, you
can verify it in your own minds.

Try to think of yoursdf as a soul, as a diseodiodied
smnething. You will find it to be ahnost impossible, and

nUCTl^ VEDANTA IV m

dioM tew who vtt able to do so wiU find that at the thae
n^en they realise .tfaemsdvet as a soul they have no idea
of the body. - You have heard of, or perhaps have seat,
persons who on particular occasions had been in peculiar
states of mind, brought idx>ut by deep meditation, 8el^
hypnotism, hysteria, or drugs. From their experience
you may gather that when they were perceiving the
internal something, the external had vanished for them.
This shows that whatever exists is one. That one is
appearing in these various forms, and all these various
forms give rise to the rdation of cause and effect. The
relation of cause and' effect is one of evolution — ^the one
becomes the other, and so on. Sometimes the cause
vanishes, as it were, and in its place leaves the effect. If
the soul is the cause of the body, the soul, as it were,
vanishes for the time being, and the body remains ; and
when the body vanishes, the soul remains. This theory
fits the arguments of the Binldhists that were levdled
against the assumption of the dualism of body and soul,
by denying the duality, and showing that the- substance
and the qualities are one and the same thing appearing
in various forms.

We have seen also that this idea of the undiangeable
can be established only as regards the whole, but never as
regards the part. The very idea of part conies from the
iddi of change or motkm. Everything that is limited we
can Understand and know, because if is changeable ; and
die whole must be unchangeable, because there is no
other thing besides it in relation to whidi change would
be possible. Change is always in regard to something
whidi does not change, or whidi changes rdativdy
less.

According to Advaita, dierefore, the idea of the
smil as universal, unchangeable, and immortal can be
demonstrated as for as possible. The difficulty would be
as rq^ards the particular. What shall we do with the dd

S46

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

dualistic theories whidi have such a hold upon ui, and .
which we have all to pass through — these bdteCs in
limited, little, individual souls ? >

We have seen that we are immortal with regard to
the whole ; but the difikulty is, we desire so much to be
immortal as parts dt the whcde. We have seen that we
are Infinite, and that that is oUr real individuality. But
we want so much to make these little souls individual.
What becomes of them when we find in our everyday
experience that these little souls are individuals, with only
this reservation that they are continuously growing
individuals ? They are the same, yet not the same.- The
I of yesterday is the 1 of today, and yet not so, it is changed
somewhat. Now, by getting rid of the dualistic conception,
that in the midst of all these changes there is something
that does not change, and taking the most modem of
conceptions, that of evolution, we find that the "I” is a
continuously changing, expanding entity.

If it be true that man is the evolution of a mollusc, the
mollusc individual is the same as the man, only it has to
become expanded a great deal. From mollusc to man it
has been a continuous expansion towards infinity. There-
fore the limited soul can be styled an individual which is
continuously expanding towards the Infinite Individual.
Perfect individudity will only be reached when it has
reached the Infinite, but on this side of the Infinite it is a
continupusly changing, growing personality. One of the
remarkable features of the Advaitist system Vedanta is
to harmonise the preceding systems. In many cases it
helped the philosophy very much ; in some cases it hurt it.
Our ancient philbsophers knew what you odl the thewy
of 4 svo^ion ; that growth is gradual, step by 8tq>, and
of this led them to harmonise all the
preceding systems. Thus not one of these preceding
ideas was rejected. The fault of the Buddhistic faith was
that it had neither the faculty nor die perception of this

PRACTICAL VBDANTA IV HI

continiud. cquuuive growth, and for this reason it never
even made an attcn^t to harmonise itself with the pre>
enisting st^ towards the ideal. They were rejected as
usdess and hwndiil.

This tendency in religion is most harmful. A man
gets a new and better idea, and then he looks back on
those he has given up. and forthwith decides that they
were mischievous and unnecessary. He never thinks that,
however crude they may appear from his present point
of view, they were very useful to him. that they were
necessary for him to reach his present state, and that
everyone us has to grow in a similar fashion, living first
on crude ideas, taking benefit from them, and then arriv-
ing at a higher standard. With the oldest theories, therefore,
the Advaita is friendly. Dualism and all systems that
had preceded it are accepted by the Advaita not in
a patronising way, but with the conviction that they are
true manifestations of the same truth, and that they all
lead to the same conclusions as the Advaita has
reached.

With blessing, and not with cursing, should be pre-
served all these various steps through which humanity has
to pass. Therefore ail these dualistic systems have never
been rejected or thrown out, but have been kept intact in
the Vedanta : and the dualistic conception of an individual
soul, limited yet complete in itself, finds its place in the
Vedanta. *

According to dualism, man dies and goes to other
worlds, and so forth; and these ideas are kept in the
Vedanta in their entirety. For with the recognition of
growth in the Advaitist system, these theories are given
their prtqier place by admitting diat they represent only
a partial view of the Truth.

From the dualistic standpoint this universe can only be
looked upon as a creation of matter or force, can only be
lotdced upon as the ptey of a certain will, and that wiU
n— a

s«

SWAMl VIVEXANANOA^S WOKKS

again can only be locdud ujMm as separate liom the
universe. Thus a «>»« fixnn such a standpoint has to see
himsdf as composed of a dual nature, body and soul, and
this soul, thou|^ limited, is individually complete in itsdf.
Such a man’s ideas of immmtality and (d the future life
would necessarily accord with his idea of soul. These
phases have been kept in the Vedanta, and it is, therefore,
necessary for me to present to you a few of the popular
ideas of dualism. According to this theory, we have a
body, of course, and behind the body there is what they
call a fine body. This fine body is also made of matter,
only very fine. It is the receptade of all our Karma, of all
our actions and impressions, which are ready to spring up
into visible forms. Every thought that we think, every
deed that we do, after a certain time becmnes fine, goes
into seed form, so to speak, and lives in the fine body in a
potential form, and after a time it emerges again and bears
its results. These results condition the life of man. Thus
he moulds his own life. Man is not bound by any other
laws excepting those which he makes for himself. Our
thoughts, our words and deeds are the threads of the net
which we throw round oursdves, for g^>od or for evil.
Once we set in motion a certain power, we have to take
the full consequences of it. This is the law of Karma.
Behind the subtle body, lives Jiva or the individual soul of
man. There are various discussions about the fmrm and
the size of this individual soul. According to smne, it is
very small like an atom ; according to otheiq, it is not so
small as that ; according to othors, it is very big; and so on.
This Jiva is a part of that universal substance, and it Is also
eternal ; without beginning it is existing, and without end
h will exist. It is passing through all these forms in order to
manifest its real nature which is purity. Every action that
retards this manifestation is called an evil acthm : so with
thoug^tsT And every action and every thoi^^t dmt hdps
the Jiva to expand, to manifest its real nature, is goo^

PRACTICAL VEDANTA IV

ana

One theory that is hdkl in conunon in India by the crudest
duelists as well u by the most advanced non-dualists is that
all the possibilities and powers of the soul are within it,
and do not cmne frmn any external source. They are in the
soul in potential form, and the whole work of life is simply
directed towards manifesting those potentialities.

They have also the theory of reincarnation which says
that after the dissolution of this body, the Jiva will have
another, and after that has been dissolved, it will again
have another, and so on, either here or in scnne other
worlds : but this world is given the preference, as it is con-
sidered the best of all worlds for our purpose. Other worlds
are conceived of as woilds where diere is very little misery,
but for that very reason, they argue, there is less chance of
thinking of higher things there. As this world contains
some happiness and a good deal of misery, the Jiva some
time or other gets awakened, as it were, and thinks of
freeing itself. But just as very rich persons in this world
have the least chance of thinking of higher things, so the
Jiva in heaven has little chance of progress, for its con-
dition is the same as that of a rich man, only more
intensified ; it has a very fine body which knows no
disease, and is under no necessity eating or drinking,
and all its desires are fulfilled. The Jiva lives there,
having enjoyment after enjoyment, and so forgets all about
iu real nature. Still there are some higjier worlds, where
in spite of all enjoyments, its further evolution js possible.
Some dualists conceive of the ^oal as the highest heaven,
where souls will live with God for ever. They will have
beantiful bodies and will know neither disease nor death,
nor any other evil, and aU their desires will be fulfilled.
From time to time srnne tii them will come bade to this
earth and take another body to teach human beings the
way to God ; and the great machers of the world have
been such. They were already free, and were living with
God in the highest q>hete ; but their love and sympathy

sso

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

for suffering humanity was so great that they came and
incarnated again to teach mankind the way to heaven.

Of course we know that the Advaita ludds that diia
cannot be the goal or the ideal ; bodilessness must be the
ideal. The ideal cannot be finite. Anything short of the
Infinite cannot be the ideal, and there cannot be an infinite
body. That would be impossible, as body comes from
limitation. There cannot be infinite thought, because
thought comes from limitation. We have to go beyond the
body, and beyond thought too, says the Advaita. And we
have also seen that, according to Advaita, this freedom is
not to be attained, it is already ours. We only forget it and
deny it. Perfection is not to be attained, it is already
within us. Immortality and bliss are not to be acquired,
we possess them already; they have been ours all the
time.

If you dare declare that you are free, free you are this
moment. If you say you are bound, bound you wilt
remain. This is what Advaita boldly declares, t have
told you the ideas of the dualists. You can take which-
ever you like.

The highest ideal of the Vedanta is very difficult to
understand, and people are always quarrelling about it,
and the greatest difficulty is that when they get hold of
certain ideas, they deny and fi^t other ideas. Take up
what suits you, and let others take up what they need. If
you are desirous of clinging to this little individuality, to
this limited manhood, remain in it, have all these desires,
and be content and, pleased with them. If your experience
of manhood has been very good and nice, retain it as long
as you like ; and you can do so, for you are the makers of
ymir dwn fortunes ; none can compel you to give up your
manhood. You will be men as long as you like ; none can
prevent you. If you want to be angels, you will be angels,
that is the law. But there may be othen who do not want
to be angels even. Wbat r^t have you to think that

PRACTICAL VEDANTA IV

SSI

Uietn is a honible You may be frightened to lose

a hundred pounds, but there may be others who would not
even wink if they lost all the money they had iq the world.
There have been such men and still there ate. Why do
you dare to judge them according to your standard? You
ding on to your limitations, and these little worldly ideas
may be your highest ideal. You are welcome to thehi.
It will be to you as you wish. But there are others who
have seen the truth and cannot rest in these limitations,
who have done with these things and want to get beyond.
The world with all its enjoyments is a mere mud-puddle
for them. Why do you want to4>ind them down to your
ideas? You must get rid of this tendency once for all.
Accord a place to everyone.

I once read a story about some ships that were caught
in a cyclone in the South Sea Islands, and there was a
picture of it in the Illustrated London News, All of them
were wrecked except one English vessel, which weathered
the storm.. The picture showed the men who were going
to be drowned, standing on the decks and cheering the
people who were sailing through the storm.* Be brave and
generous like that. Do not drag others down to where you
are. Another foplish notion is that if we lose our little
individuality, there will be no morality, no hope for
humanity. As if everybody had been dying for humanity
all the timet God bless you I If ip every country there
were two hundred men anflT women really wanting to do
good to humanity! the millennium would come in five days.
We know how we are dying for humanity 1 These are all
tall talks, and nothing else. The history of the world
shows that those who never thought of their little indi-
viduality were the greatest benefactors of the human
race, and that the more men and women think of them-
selves, the less ;)re they able to do for others. One is

* H.M.S. CsRiope and the Amefksn men-of-war at Samoa.-^,

352

SWAMI VIVEKANAia>A’8 WORKS

unsdiishness, attd the othor selfishneM. w to'

little enjoymente, and to desire the continuation and
repetition ^ this state of things is utter selfishness. It arises
not {r<nn any desire for truth, its geneus is not in kindness
for other beings, but in the utter sdfishness of the human
heart, in the idea, '*1 will have everything, and do not care
for anyone else.” This is as it appears to me. I would
like to see more moral men in the world like some of those
grand old prophets and sages of ancient times who would
have given up a hundred lives if they could by so doing
benefit one little animal! Talk of morality and doing
good to others! Silly talk of the present time!

I would like to see moral men like Gautama Buddha,
who did not believe in a Personal God or a personal soul,
never asked about them, but was a perfect agnostic, and
yet was ready to lay down his life for anyone, and worked
all his life for the good of all, and thought only of the
good of all. Well has it been said by his biographer, in
describing his birth, that he was bom for the good of
the many, as a blessing to the many. He did not go to the
forest to meditate for his own salvation ; he felt that the
world was burning, and that he must find a way out. ”Why
is there so much misery in the world?” — ^was the one
question that dominated his whole life. Do you tliink we
are so moral as the Buddha?

The more selfish a man, the more immoral he is. And
so also with the race. That race which is bound down to
itself has been the most cruel and the most wicked in the
whole world. There has not been a religion that has clung
to this dualism more than that founded by the Prophet of
Arabia, and thene has not been a religion vdiich has shed
so mi^ blood and been so cruel to other men. In the
Kdtan there is the doctrine that a man who does not be-
lieve these teachings should be killed ; it is a mercy to kin
him! And the surest way to get to heaven, where there are
beautiM houris and all sorts of sensoenjoyments, is by

ntAGTlCAL VUANTA IV

kilikig thcM unbdiemt. Think o£ the Uoodahed there
has been in etmsequMce of such beUefil

In the tdigion of Qirist diere was little of crudeness ;
thoe is very little dHoence betwera the pure rd^fkm U
Christ and that of the Vedanta. You find there the idea
of (Hiaias ; but Christ also preached dualktic ideas to the
people in order to give them something tangible to
hold of, to lead them up to the highest ideal. The same
Prophet who preached, 'Y>ur Father which art in heaven",
also preadied, “I and my Father are one", and the same
Prophet knew that through the “Father in heaven" lies the
way to the "I and my Father are one”. There was only
blessing and love in the religimi Christ ; but as soon as
crudeness crept in, it was degraded into something not
much better than the religion of the Prophet of Arabia. It
was crudoiess indeed — this fight for the little self, this
dinging on to the “1", not only in this life, but also in the
desire for its continuance even after death. This they
declare to be unselfishness ; this the foundation of morality I
Lord help us, if this be the foundation of morality] And
strangely enough, men and women who ought to know
better think all morality will be destroyed if these little
sdves go and stand aghest st the idea that morality can
only stand upon their destruction. The watchword of all
well-beii^ of all moral good is not "1” but "thou". Who
cares whether there is a heaven or a hdl, who cares if there
is a soul or not, who cares if there is an unchangeable or
not? Here is the world, and it is full of misery. Go out
into it as Buddha did, and struggle to lessen it or die in the
attempt. Foiget youndves ; this is the first lesson to be
learnt, whether you are a theist or an atheist, whether you
are an i^[nostic or a Vedwtist, a Christian or a Moham*
medan. The cme lesson obvious to all is the desmtetion
of the littfo self and the building up of the Real Self.

Two forces have been workii^ side by side in paralld
lima. The one says "I", the other says "not T’. Their

8S4

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'8 WORKS

mattifestation it not only in man but in animals, not only
in animals but in the unaUest worms. The tigress tiiat
plunges her fangs into the warm blood <rf a human being
would give up her. own life to protea 'her young. The
most depraved man who thinks nothing of taking the lives
of his brother men will, perhaps, sacrifice himsdUE without
any hesitation to save his starving wife and children. Thus
throughout aeation these two forces are working side by
side ; where you find the one; you find the other too. The
one is selfishness, the other is unsdfishness. The one is
acquisition, the other is renunciation. The one takes, the
other gives. From the lowest to the hipest, the whtde
universe is the playground of these two forces. It does not
require any demonstration ; it is obvious to all.

What light has any section of the community to base
the whole work and evolution of the univeise upon one of
these two factors alone, upon competition and struggle?
\^^t right has it to base the whole working of the universe
upon passion and fight, upon competition and struggle?
That these exist we do not deny ; but what rig^t has any-
one to deny the working of the other force? Can any man
deny that love, this "not I", this renunciation is the only
positive power in the universe^ That other is only the mis-
guided employment of the power of love ; the power of
love brings competition, the real genesis of competition is
in love. The real genesis of evil is in unselfishness. The
creator of evil is good, and the end is also good. It is only
misdirection of the power of good. A man who murden
another is, perhaps, moved to do so by the love ofihis own
child. His love has become limited to that one little baby,
to the exclusion of the millions of other human beings in
Ae universe. Yet, limited or unlimited, it is the mme love.

Thus the motive power of the whole universe, in what-
ever way it manifests itself, is that one wonderful thing,
unselfishness, renunciation, love, Ae real, the <mly living
force in existence. Therefore the Vedantist insists iqpon

PRACTICAL VEDANTA IV

that onoicM. We insist upon this explanation because we
•cannot admit two causes of the universe. If we simjdy
hold that by limitation, the same beautiful, wonderful love
jq|>pears to be evil or vile, we find the whole universe
explained by the one force of love. If not. two causes of
the universe have to be taken for granted, one good and
the other evil, one love and the other hatred. Which is
more logical ? Certainly the tme-force theory.

Let us now pass on to things which do not possibly
belong to dualism. I cannot stay longer with the dualists,
I am afraid. My idea is to show that the highest ideal of
morality and unselfishness goes hand in hand with the
highest metaphysical conception, and that you need not
lower your conception to get ethics and morality, but, on
the other hand, to reach a real basis of morality and ethics
you must have the highest philosophical and scientific con-
ceptions. Human knowledge is not antagonistic to human
well-being. On the contrary, k is knowledge alone that
will save us in every department of life — in knowledge
is worship. The more we know the better for us. The
Vedantist says, the cause of all that is apparently evil is
the limitation of the unlimited. The love which gets limited
into little channels and seems to be evil eventually comes
out at the other end and manifests itself as God. The
Vedanta also says that the cause of all this apparent evil
is in ourselvOs. Do not blame any supernatural beingi»
neither be Hopeless and despondent, nor think we are in a
place from which we can never escape unless someone
comes and lends us a helping hand. That cannot be,
says the Vedanta. We are like silkworms ; we make the
thread out of our own substance and spin the cocoon, and
in course of time are imprisoned inside. But this is not for
ever. In that cocoon we shall develop spiritual realisa-
tion, and lik^the butterfly cmne out free. This network
of Karma we have woven around ourselves ; and in our
ignorance we feel as if we are bound, and weep and wail

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SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

for help. But hdp does not come from without ; it comes
from widtin ourselves. Cry to all the gods in the univme..
T cried for years, and Ui the end I found that 1 was.he^ied.
But hdp came from within. And I had to undo what I
had done by mistake. That is the only way. I had to cut
the net which 1 had thrown round myself, and the power
to do this is within. Of this I am certain that not one
aspiration, well-guided or ill-guided in my lif^ has been
in vain, but that I am the resultant of all my past, both
good and evil. I have committed many mistakes in my
life : but mark you, I am sure of this that without every
one o£ those mistakes 1 should not be what I am today,
and so am quite satisfied to have made them. I do not
mean that you are to go home and wilfully commit
mistakes ; do not misunderstand me in that way. But do
not mope because of the mistakes you have committed,
but know that in the end all will come out straight. It
cannot be otherwise, because goodness is our nature,
purity is our nature, and that nature can never be de-
stroyed. Our essential nature always remains the same.

What we are to understand is this, that what we call
mistakes or evil, we commit because we are weak, and
we are weak because we are ignorant. I prefer to call
them mistakes. The word sin, although originally a very
good word, has got a certain flavour about it that frightens
me. Who makes us ignorant? We ourselves. We put
our hands over our eyes and weep that it is dark. Take
the hands away and there is light ; the light exists always
ior us, the sidf-effulgent nature of the human soul. Do
you not hear what your modem scientific men say? What
is the cause evolution? Desire. The animal yrants to
do mme^ing, but does not find the environment favour-
al^ and therefore develops a new body. Who develops
it? The animal itsdf, its will. You have developed from
the. lowest amoeba. Continue to exercise your will and it
will take you hi^er still. The wfll is alm^ty. If it is

PRACTICAL VEDANTA IV 8»7

alou^ty. you may say, why cannot 1 do everything? But
you axe thinking only oC your little sdf. Look badt on
youxselves from the sute of the aameba to the human
being ; who made all that? Your own wilL Can you
deny then that it is almi^y? That which has made you
come up so high can make you go higher still. 'What
you want is character, strengthening of the will.

If I teach you, therefore, that your nature is evil, that
you should go home and sit in sackcloth and ashes and
weep your lives out because you took certain false steps,
it will not help you, but will weaken you all the more,
and I shall be showing you the road to more evil than
good. If this room is full of darkness for thousands of
years and you come in and b^n to weep and wail, "Oh
the darkness”, will the darkness vanish? Strike a match
and light comes in a moment. What good will it do you
-to think all your lives, "Oh, I have done evil, I have made
many mistakes"? It requires no ghost to tell us that.
Bring in the lig^t and the evil goes in a moment. Build
up your character, and manifest your real nature, the
Effulgent, the Resplendent, the Ever-Pure, and call It up
in everyone that you see. I wish that everyone of us had
come to such a state that even in the vilest of human
beings we could see the Real Self within, and instead of
condemning them, say, "Rise thou effulgent one, rise
thou who art always pure, rise thou, birthless and death-
less, rise almighty, and manifest thy true nature. These
little manifestations do not befit thee.” This is the
highest prayer that the Advaita teaches. Tliis is the one
prayer, to remember our true nature, the God who is
always within us,^ thinking of it always as infinite,
almi^ty, cver-good, ever-beneficent, selfless, bereft of
all limitations. And because that nature is selfless, it is
stroi^ and fearless; for <mly to selfishness comes fear.
He who has nothing to desire few himself, whom does he
fear, and what can frighten him? 'What fear has death

958

SWAMl V1V£KANANDA*S WORKS

for him? What fear has evil for him? So if we are
Advaitists, we must think from this moment that our old
self is dead and gone. The old Mr.^ Mrs., and Miss
So-and-so are gone, they were mere superstitions, and
what remains is the ever-pure, the ever-strong, t^e
almighty, the all-knowing — that alone remains for us, and
then all fear vanishes from us. Who can injure us, the
omnipresent? All weakness has vanished from us, and
our only work is to arouse this knowledge in our fellow-
beings. We see that thc7 too are the same pure self,
only they do not know it ; we must teach them, we must
help them to rouse up their infinite nature. This is what
I feel to be absolutely necessary all over the world.
These doctrines are old, older than many mountains
possibly. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody*s prop-
erty ; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive daim
to it. Truth is the nature of all souls. Who can lay any
special claim to it? But it has to be made practical, to be
made simple (for the highest truths are always simple),
so that it may penetrate every pore of human society,
and become the property of the highest intellects and the
eonimonest minds,, of the man, woman, and child at
the same time. All these raticKinations of logic, all these
bundles of metaphysics, all these theologies and ceremo-
nies may have been good in their own time, but let us
try to make things simpler and bring about the golden
days ^en every man will be a worshipper, and the
Reality in every man will be the object of worship.

f

THE WAY TO THE REALISATION
OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION

{Delivered in the Universalist Church, Pasadena,
California, 28th January 1900)

No search has been dearer to the human heart than
that which brings to us light from God. No study has
taken so much of human energy, whether in times past or
present, as the study of the soul, of God, and of human
destiny. However immersed we are in our daily occupa-
tions, in our ambitions, in our work, in the midst of the
greatest of our struggles, sometimes there ‘will come a
pause ; the mind stops and wants to know something
beyond this world. Sometimes it catches glimpses of a
realm beyond the senses, and a struggle to get at it is
the result. Thus it has been throughout the ages, in all
countries. Man has wanted to look beyond, wanted to
expand himself ; and all that we call progress, evolution,
has been always measured by that one search, the search
for human destiny, the search for God.

As our social struggles are represented amongst
diflEerent nations by different social organisations, so is
man’s spiritual struggle represented by various religions ;
and as different social organisations are constantly quar-
relling, are constantly at war with one another, so these
spiritual, organisations have been constantly at war with
one another, constantly quarrelling: Men belonging to a
particular social organisation claim that the right to live
only^ belongs to them ; and so long as they can, they want
to exercise that right at the cost of t{i« weak.' We know;^
that just now there is a fierce stn^^(g^ sort going 04

in South Africa. Similarly, sect hat

360

SWAMl VIVEKANANIM’S WORKS

claimed the exdunve ri^t to live. And thus we find
that though there is nothing that has brouj^t to man more
blessings than religion, yet at the same time, there is
nothing that has brought more horror than religion.
Nothing has made more for peace and love than religion ;
nothing has epgendered fiercer hatred than religion.
Nothing has made the brotherhood of man mmre tangible
than religion ; nothing has bred more bitter enmity
between man and man than religion. Nothing has built
more charitable institutions, more hospitals for men, and
even for animals, than religion ; nothing has deluged the
world with more blood than religion. We know, at the
same time, that there has always been an undercurrent
of thought ; there have been always parties of men,
philosophers, students of comparative religion who have
tried and are still trying to bring about harmony in the
midst of all these jarring and discordant sects. As
regards certain countries, these attempts have succeeded,
but as regards the whole world, they have failed.

There are some religions which have come down to
us from the remotest antiquity, which are imbued with the
idea that all sects should be allowed to live, that every
sect has a meaning, a great id6a, imbedded within itself^,
and, therefore it is necessary for the good of the world
and ought to be helped. In modem times the same idea
is prevailing and attempts are made from time to time to
reduce it to practice. These attempts do not idways
come up to our expectations, up to the required efficiency.
Nay, to our great disappointment, we sometimes find that
we are quarrelling all the mote.

Now, leaving aside dogmatic study, and taking a
common-sense view of the thing, we find at the start that
them is a tremendous life-power in all the. great rdigions
ei the wmld. Some may say Uiat they are ignorant of
this, but ignorance is no excuse. If a man says **1 do
not know what is going on in the external .world, therefme

UNl\1»tSiiL REU^N: ITS REAUSRTION, 961

thtn^ diat are gDing on in the external world do not
exist”, that man is inexcusable. Now, those of you that
watch the movement of religious thought all over the
.world are perfectly aware that not one of the great
religions (rf the world has died; not only so, each one
them is progressive. Christians are multiplying,
Mohammedans ate multiplying, the Hindus are gaining
ground, and the Jews also are increasing, and by their
spreading all over the world and increasing rapidly, the
fold of Judaism is constantly expanding.

Only one religion of the world — an ancient, great
rdigion— has dwindled away, and that is the religion of
Zoroastrianism, the religion of the ancient Persians.
Under the Mohammedan conquest of Persia about a
hundred thousand of these people came and took shelter
in India and some remained in ancient Persia. Those that
were in Persia, under the ctmstant persecution of the
Mohammedans, dwindled down tin there are at most only
ten thousand ; in India there are about eighty thousand of
them, but they do not increase. Of course, there is an
initial diflBculty ; they do not convert others to their reli-
gion. And then, this handful of persons living in India,
with the pernicious custom of cousin marriage, do not
multiply. With this single exception, all the great rdigions
are living, spreading, and increasing. We must remember
that all the great religitms of the world are very ancient,
not one has been fbnned at the present time, and that
every religion of the world owes its origin to the country
between the Ganga and the Euphrates; not one great
religion has arisen in Europe, not one in America, not
one ; every rdigion is of Asiatic origin and bdongs to that
part of the world. If what the modem scientists say is
true, that the survival of the fittest is the test, these reli-
gions prove by their still living that they are yet fit for
some people. There is a reason why they should live, they
bring good to many. Lotd; at the Mohammedans, how they

9WAM1 VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

are spreading in some places in Southern Asia, and quread*
ing like fire in Africa. The Buddhists are spreading all avet
Central Asia, all the time. The Hindus, like the Jews, do
not convert others ; still gradually, other races are comiiq;
within Hinduism and adopting the manners and aistoms
of the Hindus and falling into line with them. Christianity,
you all know, is spreading — though I am not sure that the
results are equal to the energy put forth. The Christians’
attempt at propaganda has one tremendous defect — and
that is the defect of all Western institutions: the machine
consumes ninety' per cent of the energy, there is too much
machinery. Preaching has always been the business of
the Asiatics. The Western people are grand in orga-
nisation, social institutions, armies, governments, etc. ;
but when it comes to preaching religion, they cannot
come near the Asiatic, whose business it has been all the
time, and he knows it, and he does not use too much
machinery.

This then 4s a fact in the present history of the human
race, that all these great religions exist and are spreading
and multiplying. Now, there is a meaning, certainly,
to this ; and had it been the will of an All-wise and
All-merciful Creator that one of these religions should
exist and the rest should die, it would have become a fact
long, long ago. If it were a fact that only one of these
religiqns is true and all the rest are false, by this time
it would have covered the whole ground. But this is not
so ; not one has gained all the ground. All religions
sometimes advance — sometimes decline. Now, just think
of this: in your own country there are nsore than sixty
millions of people, and only twenty-one millions profess-
ing rdigions of all sorts. So it is not always progress. In
every country, probably; if the statistics are taken, you
would find that religions are sometimes progressing and
sometimes going back. Sects ate multijdying all the time.
If the daims of a rdigion that it has all the truth and

UNIVERSAL RELi^N} ITS REAX4SATI<»I MS

, .Gdd has given it all this truth in a certain book were true,
why are there so many sects 7 Fifty years do not pass
bdioK there are twenty sects founded upon the same
book. If God has put all the truth in certain books, He
does not give us those bodu in order that we may quarrel
over texts. That seems to be the fact. Why is it? Even
if a book were given by God which contained all the truth
about religion, it would not serve the purpose because
nobody could understand the bot^L. Take the Bible, for
instance, and all the sects that exist amongst Christians ;
each one puts its own interpretation upon the same text,
and each says that it alone understands that text and all
the rest are wrong. So with every religion. There are
many sects among the Mohammedans and among the
Buddhists, and hundreds among the Hindus. Now, I bring
these facts before you in order to show you that any
attempt to bring all humanity to one method of thinking
in spiritual things has been a failure and always will be
a failure. Every man that starts a theory, even at the
present day, finds that if he goes twenty miles away from
his fottowers, they will make twenty sects. You see that
happening all the time. You cannot make idl conform to
the same ideas: that is a fact, and I thank God that it
is so. I am not agaitut any sect. I am g^ad that sects
exist, and I only wish they may go on multiplying more
and more. Why ? Simply because bf this: If you and
I and all who are present here woe to think exactly the
same thoughts, there would be no thoughts for us to
think. We know that two or more forces must come into
collision in order to produce motion. It is the dash
of thought, the differentiation of thou^t, that awakes
thouf^t. Now, if we all thought alike, we would be like
Egyptian mummies in a museum looting vacantly at one
another’s faces— no mcnre thsm thatl Whirls and eddies
occur only in a rudihi(^ living stream. There are no
wMdpools in stagnant, dead enter. Whmi rdigions are
Il-t*

a64

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’$ WORKS

dead, there will be no more sects ; it will be the perfea
peace and harmony of the grave. But so long as maiddnd
thinks, there will be sects. Variation is the sign of life,
and it must be there. 1 pray that they may multiply so
that at last there will be as many sects as human beings,
and each one will have his own method, his individual
method of thought in religion.

But this thing exists already. Each one of us is
thinking in his own way, but his natural course has been
obstructed all the time and is still being (rt>structed. If
the sword is not used directly, other means will be used.
Just hear what one cl the best preadiers in New Yorit
says: he preaches that the Filipinos should be con-
quered because that is the only way to teach Qiristianity
to them! They are already Cathtdics; but he wants to
make them Presbyterians, and for this, he is ready to lay
all this terrible sin of bloodshed upon his race. How
terriblel And this man is one of the greatest preadiers of
this country, one of the best informed men. Think of die
state of the world when a man like that is not ashamed to
stand up and utter such arrant nonsense ; and think of the
state of the world when an audience dieers himt Is this
civilisation ? It is the old blood-thirstiness of the tiger,
the cannibal, the savage, coming out once more under
new names, new drcumstances. What else can it be?
If the state of things is such now, think (rf the horron
through which the world passed in olden times, when
every sect was trying by every means in its power to
tear to pieces the other sects. History shows that. The
tiger in us is only asleep : it is not dead. When oppor-
tunities come, it jumps up and, as of old. uses its daws
and fangs. Apart from the sword, apart from, mate^al
weapons, there are weapons still more terrible— contempt,
sodal hatred, and sodal ostradsm. Now, these are Ae
most terrible of all inflictions that are hurled against
persons who do not think exactly in the same way as we do.

UNIVERSAL RELIGION: ITS REALISATION 8SS

AiM why should everybody thinh just as we do ? I do not
let any reason. If I am a rationd man, I should be glad
they do not think just as I do. I do not want to live in a
grave-like land ; I want to be a man in a world of men.
Thinking beings must differ ; difference is the first sign of
thou^t. If I am a Uioughtful man, certainly I ought to
like to live amongst thoughtful persons where there are
differences of opinion.

Then arises the question: How can all these varieties
be true ? If one thing is true, its negation is false. How
can contradictory opinions be true at the same time ? This
is the question which I intend to answer. But 1 will
first ask you: Are all the religions of the world really
contradictory ? I do not mean the external forms in whidi
great thoughts are dad. I do not mean the different
buildings, languages, rituals, books, etc. employed in
various rdigions, but I mean the internal soul of every
religion. Every rdigion has a soul behind it, and that soul
may differ from the soul another religion ; but are they
contradictory ? Do ^ey contradict or supplement each
other ? — that is the question. I took up the question when
I was quite a boy, and have been studying it all my life.
Thinking that my condusion may be of some help to you,
I place it before you. 1 bdieve that they are not con-
tradictory ; they are supplementary. Each religion, as it
were, takes up one part of the great universal truth, and
spends its whole force in embodying and typifying that
part of the great trudi. It is, therefore, additioir, not
exdusion. That is the idea. System after system arises,
each one embodying a great idea, and ideals must be
added to ideals. And this is the march of humanity.
Man never progresses from error to truth, but firom truth
to truth, from lesser truth to higher truth — but it is never
from errm to truth. The child may devdop more than
the father, but was the father inane? The child is the
father plus something else. If your present state of

366 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

knowledge is much greater than it was when you a
child, would you look down upon that stage now ? WIU
you look back and call it inanity ? Why, your present
stage is the knowledge of the child plus something mtne.

Then, again, we also know that there may be dmost
contradictory points of view of the same thing, but
they will all indicate the same thing. Suppose a man is
journeying towards the sun, and as he advances he takes
a photograph of the sun at every stage. When he comes
back, he has many jihotographs of the sun, which he
places before us. We see that not two are alike, and yet,
who will deny that all these are photographs of the same
sun, from different standpoints ? Take four photographs
of this church from different comers: how different they
would look, and yet they would all represent this church.
In the same way, we are all looking at truth from diffmnt
standpoints, which vary according to our birth, education,
surroundings, and so on. We are viewing troth, getting
as much of it as these circumstances will permit, colouring
the troth with our own heart, understanding it with our
.own intellea, and grasping it with our own mind. We
can only know as much of truth as is related to us, as
much of it as we are aide to receive. This makes the
difference between man and man, and occasions some-
times even contradictory ideas ; yet we all belong to the
same great universal troth.

My idea, therefore, is that all these religitms are
different |prces in the economy of God, working for the
good mankind ; and that not one can become dead, not
one can be killed. Just as you cannot kill any force in
nature, so you cannot kill any one of these spiritual forces.
You have seen that eadi religioa is living. From time to
time it may retrograde or go forward. At one time, it may
be shorn of a good many of its trappings ; at another time
it may be covered with all sorts of trappings ; but all the
same, the soul is ever there, it can never be lost. The

UtoVptSAL KJSUGIOK; ITS REAUMTIOK SS7

i '

i&aA which every rdiigion r^resenu is never lost, and so
every rdagum is intelligently on the march.

. And that universal religion about which philosophers
and others have dreamed in every country already exists.
It is here. As the universal brotherhood of man is already
existing, so also is universal religion. Which of you, that
have travelled far and wide, have not found brothers
and sisters in every nation ? 1 have found them all over
the world. Brotherhood already exists ; only there are
numbers of persons who fail to see this and only upset it
by crying for new brotherhoods. Universal religion, too,
is already existing. If the priests and other people that
have taken upon themselves the task of preaching different
religions simply cease preaching for a few moments, we
shall see it is there. They are disturbing it all the time,
because it is to their interest. You see that priests in every
country are very conservative. Why is it so ? There are
very few priests who lead the people ; most of them are
led by the people and are thehr slaves and servants. If
you say it is dry, they say it is so ; if you say it is black,
they say it is black. If the people advance, the priests
must advance. They cannot lag behind. So, before
blaming the priests — ^it is the fashion to blame the priest— «
you ought to blame yourselves. You only get what you
deserve. What would be the fate of a priest who wants
to give you new and advanced ideas and lead you for*
ward ? His children would probably starve, and he would
be dad in rags. He is governed by* the same worldly
laws as you are. "Tf you go on,” he says, ‘let us
march.” Of course, there are exceptional souls, not
cowed down by public opinion. They see the truth and
truth alone they value. Truth has got hold of them, has
got possession of them, as it were, and they caimot but
march ahead. They never look backward, and for them
there are no people. God alone exists for them. He is the
Lig^t before them, and they are fcdlowing that Lig^t.

Idbmaw

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

I met a Mormon gentleman in this country, wdio tried
to persuade me to his faith. I said, "I have great rtspeCt
for your opinions, but in certain points we do not agree—'
I belong to a monastic order, and you bdieve in marry-
ing many wives. But why don't you go to India to
preach ?” Then he was astonished. He said, "Why, you
don't believe in any marriage at all, and we believe in
polygamy, and yet you ask me to go to your country!"
I said, "Yes ; my countrymen will hear every religious
thought wherever it may come from. I wish you would
go to India, fint, because I am a great believer in sects.
Secondly, there are many men in India who are not at
all satisfied with any of the existing sects, and on acraunt
of this dissatisfaction, they will not have anything to do
with religion, and, possibly, you might get some of them.”
The greater the number of sects, the more chance of
people getting religion. In the hotel, where there are all
sorts of food, everyone has a chance to get his appetite
satisfied. So I want sects to multiply in every country,
that more people may have a chance to be spiritual. Do
not think that people do not like religion. I do not believe
that. The preachers cannot give them what they need.
The same man that may have been branded as an atheist,
as a materialist, or what not, may meet a man who gives
him the truth needed by him, and he may turn out the
most spiritual man in the community. 'We can eat only
in our own way. For instance, we Hindus eat with our
fingers, bur fingers are suppler than yours, you cannot
use your fingers the same way. Not only the food should
be supplied, but it should be taken in your own particular
way. Not only must you have the spiritual- ideas, but
they must comt to you according to your own method.
They must speak your own language, the language of
your soul, and then alone they will satisfy you. When
the. man comes who ^aks my language and gives truth

UNIV1K$AL RSUCtON: FTS MAUSATIOM M9

r

ia my tuqiaage, 1 at ooce undemand it and lecdve it
for ever. This is a great fact.

Now from this we see that there are various grades
and types of human minds and what a task rdigioiu take
upcm themi A man brings forth two or three doctrines
and daims that his religion oug^t to satisfy all humanity.
He goes out into the world, God's menagerie, with a little
cage in hand, and says, "God and the elephant and
everybody has to go into this. Even if we have to cut the
elephant into pieces, he must go in.” Again, there may be
a sect with a few good ideas. Its followers say, "All men
must come ini” "But there is no room for them.”
"Never mindl Gut them to pieces ; get them in anyhow ;
if they don’t get in, why, they will be damned." No
preacher, no sect, have 1 ever met that pauses and asks,
"Why is it that people do not listen to us ?” Instead, they
curse the people and say, "The people are wicked.”
They never ask, "How is it that people do hot listen to
my words? Why cannot I make them see the truth? Why
cannot I speak in their language ? Why cannot I open
their eyes ?” Surdy, they ought to know better, and
when they find people do not listen to them, if they
curse anybody, it should be themselves. But it is always
the people's fault I They never try to make their sect
large enou^ to embrace every one.

Therefore we at once see why there has been so
much narrow-mindedness, the part always daiming to be
the whole ; the litde, finite unit always laying claim to the
infinite. Think of little sects, bom within a few hundred
years out fallible human brains, making this arrogant
daim of knowledge of the whole of God’s infinite truth I
Think of the arrogance of iti If it shows anything, it is
this, how vain human bdr^ are. And it is no-wohder that
sudr daims have always faded, and, by the mercy of
the Lord, are always destined to fail. In this line the
Mohammedans wera the best off ; every itep forward was

m SWAMI VIVEEANANDA’S WORKS

made with the sword — the Koran in die one hand and
the sword in the other: ‘tTake the Koran, or you must
die ; there is no alternative! ” You know from history
how phoiomenal was their success ; for six hundred years
nothing could resist them, and then there came a time
when they had to cry halt. So will it be with other religions
if they follow the same methods. We are such babes! We
always forget human nature. When we begin life, we
think that our fate will be something extraordinary, and
nothing can make us disbelieve that. But when we grow
old, we think differently. So with religions. In their early
stages, when they spread a. little, they get the idea that
they can change the minds of the whole human race in a
few years, and go on killing and massacring to make
converts by force ; then they fail, and begin to understand
better. We see that these sects did not succeed in what
they started out to do, which was a great blessing. Just
think if one of those fanatical sects had succeeded all over
the world, where would man be today ? Now, the Lord
be blessed that they did not succeed! Yet, each one
rejnresents a great truth ; each religion represents a par-
ticular excellence — something which is its soul. There
is an old story which comes to my mind: There were
some ogresses who used to kill people and do all sorts of
mischief ; but they themselves could not be killed, until
someone found out that their souls were in certain birds,
and so long as the birds were safe nothing could destroy
the ogresses. So, each one of us has, as it were, such a
bird, whefe our soul is ; has an ideal, a mission to perfewm
in life. Every human being is an embcxliment of such
an ideal, such a mission. Whatever else you may lose,
so long as that ideal is not lost, and that mission is not
hurt, nothing can kill you. , Wealth may come and go,
misfortunes may pile mountains hig^, but if - you have
kept the ideal entire, nothing can kill you. > You may
have grown old, evoi a hundred yean edd, but if that

UMlVEltm RELIGiON: ITS itEAUSATlON tffl

nuitkm is firedi and young in your what cm kill
you ? But when that, ideal is Imt and that mission is hurt,
nodiing can save you. All the wealth, all the power of
die woorld will not save you. And what are nations but
multiplied individuals ? So, each nation has a mission of
its own to perform in this harmony of races ; and so long
as that nation keeps to that ideal, that nation nothing can
kill : but if that nation gives up its mission in life and
goes after something else, its life becomes short, and it
vanishes.

And so with religions. The fact that all these <dd
religions are living today proves that they must have kept
that mission intact ; in spite of all their mistakes, in qiite
of all difficulties, in spite of all quarrels, in spite of all the
incrustation of forms and figures, the heart of every one
of them is sound — ^it is a throbbing, beating, living heart.
They have not lost, any one of them, the great mission
they came for. And it is splendid to study tiiat mission.
Take. Mohammedanism, for instance. Christian people
hate no religion in the world so much as Mohammedan-
ism. They think it is the very worst form of religion that
ever existed. As soon as a man becomes a Moham-
medan, the whole of Islam receives him as a brother with
open arms, without making any distinction, which no other
religion does. If one of your American Indians becomes
a Mohammedan, the Sultan of Turkey would have no
objection to dine with him. If he has brains, no position
is barred to him. In this country, I have never yet seen a
church where the white man and the negro can kneel side
by side to pray. Just think of that: Itiam madies its
followers all equal — so, that, you see, is the peculiar ex-
cdleace of Mohammedanism. In many places in the
Koran you find vary sensual ideas of life. Never mind.
What Mohammedanism comes to preach to the woiid is
this {Hractical brotheihood trf all belonging to their faith.
That is the essential part the Mt^iamniedan rdigion ;

m

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WbKKS

and all the other Ideas about heaven and (tf life etc., nice
not Mohanunedanism.' They are accretions.

With the HinddS you will find one national idea —
spirituality. In no other rdigion, in no other sacred books
of the world, will you find so much energy spent in defin-
ing the idea of God. They tried to define the ideal di soul
so that no earthly touch mi^t mar it. The qiirit must
be divine ; and spirit understood as spirit must not be
made into a man. The same idea of unity, of the realisation
of God, the omnipresent, is preached throughout. They
think it is all nonsense to say that He lives in heaven,
and all that. It is a mere human, anthropomorphic
idea. All the heaven that ever existed is now and
here. One moment in infinite time is quite as good as any
other moment. If you bdieve in a God, you can see Him
even now. We think religion begins when you have
realised something. It is not believing in doctrines, nor
giving intellectual assent, nor making declarations. If there
is a God, have you seen Him ? If you say "no”, then
what light have you to believe in Him } If you are in
doubt whether there is a God, why do you not struggle
to see Him ? Why do you not renounce the world and
spend the whole of your life for this one object ?
Renunciation and spirituality are the two great ideas of
India, and it is because India clings to these ideas that all
her mistakes count for so little.

With the Christians, the central idea that has been
preached ^by them is the same: "Watch and pray, for
the kingdom of Heaven is at hand"— whidi means,
purify your minds and be ready! And that spirit never
dies. You recollect that the Christians are, even in the
darkest days, even in the most superstitious Christian
countries, always trying to prqpare themselves fmr the
coining of the Lord, by tryiiq; to help others, building
hospitals, and so tm. So loi^ as the Christians keep to
that ideal, their rdigion lives.

UNIVERSAL REUGION: ITS REALISATEON STS

Now an ideal presdnts itself to my miiid. It may be
oxiFy a dream. I do not know whedier it will ever be
realised in this world, but sometimes it is better to dream
a dream, than die on hard facts. Great truths, even in a
dream are good, better than bad facts. So, let us dream
a dream.

You know that there are various grades of mind. You
may be a matter-of-fact, common-sense rationalist: you
do not care for forms and ceremonies ; you want intellec-
tual, hard, ringing facts, and they alone will satisfy you.
Then there are the Puritans, the Mohammedans, who will
not allow a picture or a statue in their place of worship.
Very well! But there is another man who is more artistic.
He wants a great deal of art — beauty of lines and curves,
the colours, flowers, forms ; he wants candles, lights, and
all the insignia and paraphernalia of ritual, that he may
see God. His mind takes God in those forms, as yours
takes Him through the intellect. Then, there* is the devo-
tional man, whose soul is crying for God: he has no
other idea but to worship God, and to praise Him. Then
again, there is the philosopher, standing outside all these,
mocking at them. He thinks, **What nonsense they are!
What ideas about God!’*

They may laugh at one another, but each one has a
place in this world. All these various minds, all these
various types are necessary. If there ever is going to be
an ideal religion, it must be broad and large enough to
supply food for all these minds. It must supply the
strength of philosophy to the philosopher, the devotee’s
heart to the worshipper ; to the ritualist, it will give all
that the most marvellous symbolism can convey ; to the
poet, it will give as much of heart as he can take in, and
other things besides. To make such a broad religion,
we shall have to go bade to the time when religions began
and take them aU in.

Our watchword, then, will be acceptance, and not

fnikrtahna Public lAhwmn

a74

SWAMl VmSKANANDA'S WOMbS

exclusion. Not only toleration, for so-called toleration is
often blasphemy, and I do not believe in it. I believe tn
acceptance. Why should 1 tolerate? Toleration means
that 1 think that you are wrong and I am just allowing you
to live. Is it not a blasphemy to think that you and 1 are
allowing others to live? 1 accept all religions that were in
the past, and worship with them all ; 1 worship God with
every one of them, in whatever form they worship Him.
1 shall go to the mosque of the Mohammedan ; I shall
enter the Christian’s church and kneel before the
crucifix; 1 shall enter the Buddhistic temple, whexe 1
shall take refuge in Buddha and in his Law. I shall go
into the forest and sit down in meditation with the Hindu,
who is trying to see the Light which enlightens the heart
of every one.

Not only shall 1 do all these, but I shall keep my heart
open for all that may come in the future. Is God’s book
finished? Or is it still a continuous revelation going on?
It is a marvellous book — these spiritual revelations of
the world. The Bible, the Vedas, the Koran, and all other
sacred books are but so many pages, and an infinite
number of pages remain yet to be unfolded. I would
leave it open for all of them. We stand in the present,
but open ourselves to the infinite future. We take in all
that has been in the past, enjoy the light of the present,
and open every window of the heart for all that will come
in the future. Salutation to all the prophets of the past,
to all the great ones of the present, and to all that are to
come in the future!

THE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION

How IT MUST Embrace Different Types of Minos
AND Methods

Wheresoever our senses reach, or whatsoever our
minds imagine, we find therein the action and reaction of
two forces, the one counteracting the other and causing
the omstant play oi the mixed phenomena that we see
around us, and of those which we feel in our minds. In
the external world, the action of these opposite forces is
expressing itsdf as attraction and repulsion, or as centri*
petal and centrifugal forces ; and iii the internal, as love
and hatred, good and evil. We repel some things, we
attract others. We are attracted by one, we are repelled
by another. Many times in our lives we find that with-
out any reason whatsoever we are, as it were, attracted
towards certain persons ; at other times, similarly, we are
repelled by others. This is patent to all, and the higher
the field of action, the more potent, the more remark-
able, are the influences of these opposite forces. Religicm
is the highest plane of human thou^t and life, and herein
we find that the woikings of these two -forces have been
most marked. The intensest love that humanity has ever
known has come from religion, and the most diabolical
hatred that humanity has known haf also come from
religion. The noblest words of peace that the world has
ever heard have come from men on the religious plane,
and the bitterest denunciation that the world has ever
known has been uttered by religious men. The higher
the object any rdigion and die finer its organisation,
the more remarkable are its activities. No other human
motive has dduged the world with blood so much as
leligion ; at the same time, nothing has brought into

S76

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

existence so many ho^itals and asylums for the poor ;
no other human influence has taken such care, not oidy
of humanity, but also of the lowest of animals, as rdigion
has done. Nothing makes us so cruel as religion, and
nothing makes us so tender as religion. This has been
so in the past, and wfll also, in all probability, be so in
the future. Yet out of the midst of this din and turmoil,
this strife and struggle, this hatred and jealousy of
religions and sects, there have arisen, from time to
time, potent voices, drowning all this noise — ^making
themselves heard from pole to pole, as it were — pro-
claiming peace and harmony. Will it ever come?

Is it possible that there should ever reign unbroken
harmony in this plane of mighty religious struggle. The
world is exercised in the latter part of this century by the
question of harmony ; in society, various plans are being
proposed, and attempts are made to carry them into
practice ; but we know how difficult it is to do so. People
find that it is almost impossible to mitigate the fury of the
struggle of life, to tone down the tremendous nervous
tension that is in man. Now, if it is so difficult to bring
harmony and peace to the physical plane of life — the
external, gross, and outward ade of it — then a thousand
times more difficult is it to bring peace and harmony to
rule over the internal nature of man. I would ask you for
the time being to come out of the network of words. We
have all been hearing from childhood of such things as
love, peajx, charity, equality, and universal brotherhood ;
but they have become to us mere words without mean-
ing, words which we repeat like parrots, and it has
become quite natural for us to do so. We cannot help it.
Great souls, who first felt these great ideas in their hearts,
manufactured these words ; and at that time many under-
stood their meaning. Later on, ignorant people have
taken up those words to play with them and made
religion a mere play upon words, and not a thing to

rm mwAh of a univeesal reugxon m

he 'tsmhcd into practice. It becomes ^'my father’s
r^igkm”# ’^our nation’s rdigion”, ”our country’s reli-
gion”, and so forth. It becomes only a phase of patriotism
to profess any religion, and patriotism is always partial.
To bring harmony into religion must always be difficult.
Yet we will consider this problem of the harmony of
religions.

We see that in every religion there are three parts— I
mean in every great and recognised religion. First, there
is the philosophy which presents the whole scope of that
rdigion, setting forth its basic principles^ the goal and the
means of reaching it. The second part is mythology,
which is philosophy made concrete. It consists of legends
relating to the lives of men, or of supernatural beings,
and so forth. It is the abstractions of philosophy con-
cretised in the more or less imaginary lives of men and
supernatural beings. The third part is the ritual. This
is still more concrete and is made up of forms and cere-
monies, various physical attitudes, flowers and incense,
and many other things, that appeal to the senses. In these
consists the ritual. You will find that all recognised
religions have these three elements. Some lay more stress
on one, some on another. Let us now take into considera-
tion the first part, philosophy. Is there one universal
philosophy? Not yet. Each religion brings out its own
doctrines and insists upon them as being the only true
ones. And not only does it do that, but it thinks that he
who does not believe in them must go* to some horrible
place. Some will even draw the sword to compel others
to believe as they do. This is not through wickedness,
but through a particular disease of the human brain
called fanaticism. They are very sincere, these fanatics,
the most sincere of human beings ; but they are quite as
irresponsible as other lunatics in the world. This disease
of fanaticism is one of the most dangerous of all diseases.
All the wickednes* of human nature is roused by it.

tublio ILAhwmwm

S78 SWAMI \^KANANDA'S WOKK8

Anger is stirred up, nerves are strung hig^, and hum^
beings become like tigers.

Is there any mythologkiyi similarity, is there any
mythological harmony, any universal mythology accepted
by all religions? Certainly not. All religions have their
own mythology, only each of them says, "My stories are
not mere myths.”. Let us try to understand the question
by illustration. I simply mean to illustrate, I do not mean
criticism of any religion. The Christian believes that God
took the shape of a dove and came down to earth ; to
him this is history, and not mythology. The Hindu
believes that God is manifested in the cow. Christians
say that to believe so is mere mythology, and not history,
that it is superstition. The Jews think that if an image be
made in the form of a box, or a chest, with an ang^l on
either side, then it may be placed in the Holy of Holies ;
it is sacred to Jehovah ; but if the image be made in the
form of a beautiful man or woman, they say, "This is a
hotriUe idol; break it down I” This is our unity in
mythology 1 If a man stands up and says, ”My prophet
did such and such a wondorful thing", others will say,
"That is only superstition”, but at the same time they say
that their own prophet did still more wonderful things,
which they hold to be historical. Nobody in the world,,
as far as I have seen, is able to make out the fine distinc-
tion between history and mythology, as it exists in the
brains of these persons. All such stories, to whatever
religion they may belong, are really mythological, mixed
up occasionally, it may be with, a little history.

Next come the rituals. One sect has one particular
form of ritual and thinks that that is holy, while the
rituals of another sect are simply anant supmtition. If
one sect wonhips a peculiar sort of symbol, tmother sect
says, "Oh, it is horrible! ” Take, for instance, a general
form of symbol. The phallus symbol is certainly a sexual
symbol, but gradually that aspect of it has. beat

THE ISSAL OF A UNmUtSAL REUtflOK m

fotgitften» md it stands now as a symbol of the Creator.
Those nations which have dits as their symbol never think
of It as the {drallus ; it is just a symbol, and there it ends.
But a man from another race or creed sees in it nothing
but the phallus, and begins to condemn it ; yet at the
same time he may be doing something which to the so-
called phallic worshippers appears most horrible. Let me
take two points for illustration, the phallus symbol and
the sacrament of the Christians. To the Christians the
phallus is horrible, and to the Hindus the Christian sacra-
ment is horriUe. They say that the Christian sacrament,
the killing of a man and the eating of his flesh and the
drinking of his blood to get the good qualities of that
man, is cannibalism. This is what some of the savage
tribes do ; if a man is brave, they kill him and eat his
heart, because they think that it will give them the quali-
ties of courage and bravery possessed by that man. Even
such a devout Christian as Sir John Lubbock admits this
and says that the origin of this Christian symbol is in this
savage idea. The Christians, of course, do not admit this
view of its origin ; and what it may imply never comes
to their mind. It stands for holy things, and that is all
they want to know. So even in rituals there is no univer-
sal symbol, which can command general recognition and
acceptance. Where then is any universality? How is it
possible then to have a univeml form of religion? That,
however, already exists. And let us see what it is.

We all hear about universal brotherhood, and how
societies stand up especially to preach this. I remember
an old story. In India, taking wine is considered very
bad. There were two birothm who wished, one night, to
drink wine secretly ; and their uncle, who was a very
orthodox man, was sleeping in a room quite close to theirs.
So, before they began to drink, they said to each other,
‘*We must be very silent, or uncle will wake up.” When
they were drinking, they continued repeating to each
11^25

SM

SWAMI VIVEKANANbAV WORIS

Other “Silence I Unde will wake up”, each trying to diout
the other down. And, as the shouting increased, the
unde woke up, came into the room, and discovered the
whole thing. Now, we all shout like these drunken men,
“Universal brotherhood 1 We are all equal, tharefore let
us make a sect.” As soon as you make a sect you protest
against equality, and equality is no more. Moham-
medans talk of universal brotherhood, but what comes
out of that in reality? Why, anybody who is not a
Mohammedan will not be admitted into the brotherhood ;
he will more likely have his throat cut. Christians talk
of universal, brotherhood ; but anyone who is not a
Christian must go to that place where he will be eternally
barbecued.

And so we go on in this world in our search after
universal brotherhood and equality. When you hear such
talk in the world, I would ask you to be a little reticent,
to take care of yourselves, for, behind all this talk is often
the intensest selfishness. “In the winter sometimes a
thunder-doud comes up ; it roars and roars, but it does
not rain ; but in the rainy season the douds speak not,
but deluge the world with water.” So those who are really
workers, and really feel at heart the universal brotherhood
of man, do not talk much, do not make little sects fw
universal brotherhood ; but their acts, their movements,
their whole life, show out dearly that they in truth possess
the feeling of brotherhood for mankind, that they have
love and sympathy for all. They do not speak, they do
and they live. This world is too full of blustering talk.
We want a little more earnest work, and less talk.

So far we see that it is hard to find any universal
features in regard to religion, and yet we know that they
exist. We are all human beings, but are we all equal ?
Certainly not Who says we are equal ? Only the lunatic
Are we all equal in our brains, in our powers, in our
bodies ? One man is stroiq;er than another, one man has

THE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION

W1

more brain power than another. If we are all equal, why
is Uiere this inequality? Who made it? We. Because we
have more or less powers, more or less brain, more or less
physical strength, it must make a difference between us.
Yet we know that the doctrine of equality appeals to our
heart. We are all hiunan beings ; but some are men, and
some are women. Here is a black man, there is a white
man ; but all are men, all belong to one humanity. Various
are our faces ; 1 see no two alike, yet we are all human
beings. Where is this one humanity? I find a man or a
woman, either dark or fair ; and among all these faces I
know that there is an abstract humanity which is com-
mon to all. I may not find it when I try to grasp it, to
sense it, and to actualise it, yet I know for certain that
it is there. If I am sure of anything, it is of this humanity
which is common to us all. It is through this generalised
entity that I see you as a man or a woman. So it is with
this universal religion, which runs throu^ all the various
religions of the world in the form of God ; it must and
does exist through eternity. “I am the thread that runs
through all these pearls,” and each pearl is a religion
or even a sect thereof. Such are the different pearls, and
the Lord is the thread that runs through all of them ; only
the majority of mankind are entirely unconscious of it.

Unity in variety is the plan of the universe. We are
all men, and yet we are all distinct from one another. As
a part of humanity I am one with you, and as Mr. So-
and-so I am different from you. As a man you are separate
from the woman ; as a human being you are one with the
woman. As a man you are separate from the animal, but
as living beings, man, woman, animal, and plant are all
one ; and as existence, you are one with the whole
universe. That universal existence is God, the ultimate
Unity in the universe. In Him we are all one. At the
«afm» time, in manifestation, these differences must always
lemain. In our work, in our energies, as they are being

982

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WOlUU

manifated outside, these differences must always leou^.
We find then that if by the idea of a universal rel^on it is
meant that one set of doctrines should be bdieved in by
all mankind, it is wholly impossible. It can nevo: be,
there can never be a time when all faces will be the
same. Again, if we expect that there will be one univeT'
sal mythology, that is also impossible ; it cannot be.
Neither can there be one universal ritual. Such a state of
things can never come into -existence ; if it ever did, the
world would be destroyed, because variety is the first
principle of life. What makes us formed beings?
Differentiation. Perfect balance would be our destruction.
Suppose the amount of heat in this room, the tendency
which is towards equal and perfect diffusion, gets that
kind of diffusion, then for all practical purposes that heat
will cease to be. What makes motion possible in this
universe? Lost balance. The unity of sameness can
come only when this' universe is destroyed, othowise such
a thing is impossible. Not only so, it would be dangerous
to have it. We must not wish that all of us should think,
alike. There would then be no thought to think. We
should be all alike, as the Egyptian mummies in a
museum, looking at each other without a thought to think.
It is this difference, this differentiation, this losing of the
balance between us, which is the very soul of our
progress, the soul of all our thought. This must always be.

What then dd I mean by the ideal ot a universal
religion? I do not mean any one universal philosophy, or
any one universal mythology, or any one universal ritual
held alike by all ; for 1 know that this world must go on
working, wheel within wheel, this intricate mass of
madiincry, most ccnnplex, most wonderfuL What can
we do then? We can make it run smoothly, we can
lessen the friction, we can grease the wheds^ as it were.
How? By recognising the natural necessity of variation.
Just as we have realised unity by our very nature, to

TM£ iMAh OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION 88B

we must also recognise viuriation. We must learn lliat
truth may be expressed in a hundred thousand ways, and
that each of these ways is true as far as it goes. We
must learn that the same thing can be view^ from a
hundred different standpoints, and yet be the same thing.
Take for instance the sun. Suppose a man standing on
the earth looks at the sun when it rises in the morning ;
he sees a big ball. Suppose he starts on a journey to-
wards the sun and takes a camera with him, taking
photographs at every stage of his journey, until he readies
the sun. The photographs of each stage will be seen to
be different from those of the other stages ; in fact, when
he gets back, he brings with him so many photographs
of so many different suns, as it would appear ; and yet
we know that the same sun was photographed by the
man at the different stages of his progress. Even so is
it with the Lord. Through high philosophy or low,
through the most exalted mythology or the grossest,
through the most refined ritualism or arrant fetishism,
every sect, every soul, every nation, every religion, con-
sciously or unconsciously, is struggling upward, towards
God ; every vision of truth that man has, is a vision of
Him and of none else. Suppose we all go with vessds
in our hands to fetch water from a lake. One has a
cup, another a jar, another a bucket, and so forth, and
we all fill our vessds. The water in each case naturally
takes the form of the vessd carried by each of us. He
who brought the cup has the water *in the form of a
cup ; he who brought the jar — ^his water is in the shape
of a jar, and so forth ; but, in every case, water, and
nothing but water, is in the vessel. So it is in the case
of religion ; our minds are like these vessels, and each
one of us is trying to arrive at the realisation of God.
God is like that water filling these different vessds, and
in each vessd the vision of God comes in the form of
the vessel. Yet He is One. He is God in every case.

S84

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

This is the only recognition of universality that we can
get.

So far it is all right theoretically. But is there any way
of practically working out this harmony in rdigions? We
find that this recognition that all the various views of
rdigion are true has been very very old. Hundreds of
attempts have been made in India, in Alexandria, in
Europe, in China, in Japan, in Tibet, and lastly in
America, to formulate a harmonious religious creed, to
make all religions come together in love. They have, all
failed, because they did not adopt any practical plan.
Many have admitted that all the religions of the world are
right, but they show no practical way of bringing them
together, so as to enable each of them to maintain its own
individuality in the conflux. That plan alone is practical,
which does not destroy the individuality of any man in
religion and at the same time shows him a point of union
with all othen. But so far, all the plans of religious har*
mony that have been tried, while proposing to take in all
the various views of religion, have, in practice, tried to
bind them all down to a few doctrines, and so have pro*
duced more new sects, fighting, struggling, and pushing
against each other.

I have also my little plan. I do not know whether it
will work or not, and I want to present it to you for discus-
sion. What is my plan? In the first place I would ask
mankind to recognise this maxim, “Do not destroy”.
Iconoclastic reformers do no good to the world. Break
not, pull not anything down, but build. Help, if you
can ; if you cannot, fold your hands and stand by and see
things go on. Do not injure, if you cannot render help.
Say not a word against any man’s convictions so far as
they are sincere. Secondly, take man where he stands,
and from there give him a lift. If it be true that God is
die centre of all religions, and that each of us is moving
towards Him along one of these radii, then it is certain

THE H«AL OP A UNIVERSAL RELIGION S8B

j '

that iB of us must leadi that coitte. And at the oenute,
where all the radii meet, all our difiEerences will cease ;
but until we reat^ there, differences there must be. All
these radii converge to the same centre. One, according
to his nature, travds along one of these lines, and
another, along another ; and if we all push onward along
our own lines, we shall surely come to the centre,
because, "All roads lead to Rome”. Each of us is
naturally growing and developing according to his own
nature ; each will in time come to know the highest truth,
for after all, men must teach themselves. What can you
and I do ? Do you think you can teach even a child ?
You cannot. The child teaches himself. Your duty is
to afford opportunities and to remove obstacles. A plant
grows. Do you make the plant grow ? Your duty is
to put a hedge round it and see that no animal eats up
the plant, and there your duty ends. The plant grows
of itself. So it is in regard to the spiritual' growth of
every man. None can teach you ; none can make a
spiritual man of you. You have to teach yoursdf ; your
growth must come bom inside.

What can an extonal teacher do ? He can remove
the obstructions a little, and there his duty ends. There-
fore hdp, if you can ; but do not destroy. Give up all
ideas that you can make men spiritual. It is impossible.
There is no other teacher to you than your own soul.
Recognise this. What comes of it ? In society we see
so many different natures. 'Diere are thousands and
thousands of varieties of minds and inclinations. A
thorough generalisaticm of them is impossible, but for
our practical purpose it is sufficient to have them
characterised into four classes. First, there is the active
man, the worker ; he wants to work, and there is tremen-
dous energy in his muscles and his nerves. His aim is to
w(»k'— to build hoqpiuds, do charitable deeds, make
streets^ to plan and to organise. Then there is the

386

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA!S WCAKS

emotional man udio lovei the soblime ainl the behotifiil
to an excessive degree. He lovn to think of the beauti<'
ful, to enjoy the aesthetic dde of nature, and edmc Love
and the God of Love. He loves with his whole heart the
great souls oi all times, the prophets of rel^;ioo^ tuid
the Incarnations of God on earth ; he does not care
whether reason can or cannot prove that Christ or Buddha
existed ; he does not care for the exact date when the
Sermon on the Mount was preached, or for the exact
moment of Krishna’s birth ; what he cares for is their
personalities, their lovable figures. Such is his ideal.
This is the nature of the lover, the emotional man, Then,
there is the mystic whose mind wants to analyse its own
self, to understand the workings of the human mind, what
the forces are that are working inside, and how to know,
manipulate, and obtain control over them. This is the
mystical mind. Then, there is the philosopher who
wants to weigh everything and use his intellect even
beyond the possibilities of all human philosophy.

Now a religion, to satisfy the largest proportion of
mankind, must be able to supply food for all these various
types of minds ; and where this capability is wanting, the
existing sects all becmne cme-sided. Suppose you go to a
sect which preaches love and emoticm. They sing and
weep, and preach love. But as soon as you say, "My
friend, that is all rij^t, but I want something stronger than
this — a little reason and philosophy ; I want to understand
things step by step and more rationally", they say, "Get
out” ; arid they not only ask you to get out but would
send you to the other place, if they could. The result is
that that sect can only help people of an emotional turn of
mind. They not only do not hdp others, but try to destroy
them ; and the most wicked part of the whole thing is
that they will not only not hdp others, but do not bdleve
in their sincerity. Again, there are philosophen who talk of
the wisdcnn of India and the East and use big psydiolog-

THE IDEAL OF A UND^ESAL EmCKW HU

ititi lemL ^ty ijillEUes lon^ but if an ordinary man like
me goes to them and sayi» “Can you tdl me anything to
make me qifaritual the first thing they would do would
be to smile and say. “Oh, you are too lar below us in your
reason. ¥/hat can you understand about spirituality i"
These are high-up philosophers. They simply show you
the door. Then there are the mystical sects who speak
all sorts of things about different planes of existence,
different states of mind, and what the power of the mii^
can do, and so on ; and if you are an ordinary man and
say, “Show me anything good that 1 can do ; I am not
much given to speculation ; can you give me anything
that will suit me they will smile and say, “Listen to
that fool ; he knows nothing; his existence is for nothing.”
And this is going on everywhere in the world. 1 would
like to get extreme exponents of all these different sects,
and shut them up in a room, and photograph their
beautiful derisive smilesl

This is the existing condition of rdigion, the existing
condition of things. What I want to propagate is a religion
that will be equally acceptable to all minds ; it must be
equally philosophic, equally emotional, equally mystic,
and equally conducive to action. If professors from the
coll^;es come, scientific men and physicists, they will
court reason. Let them have it as much as they want
Tliere will be a point beyond which they will think they
cannot go, without breaking with reason. They will say,
“These ideas of God and salvation art superstitious, give
thm up I” I say, “Mr. Philosopher, this body of youn
is a big;er superstition. Give it up,, don’t go home to
dinner or to your philosophic chair. Give up die body,
and If you cannot cry quarter and sit down." For
rdigion must be able to show how to realise the
philosophy that teadtes us that this world is one, that
there is but one Eitistenee in the universe. Similarly, if
the mystic comes, we must wdcome him, be ready to

S88

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S W<HtXS

give him the acienoe of mental analysis, and fknu^icafly
demonstrate it before him. And if emotional peofde
come, we must sit, laugh, and weep with them in the
name of the Lord ; we must "drink the cup of love and
beoome mad”. If the energetic worker comes, we
must work with him, with all the energy that we have.
And this combination will be the ideal of the nearest
approach to a univenal rel^on. Would to God that all
men were so constituted that in their minds M these
elements of philosophy, mysticism, emotion, and of work
were equally present in full! That is the ideal, my ideal
of a perfect man. Everyone who has only one or two of
these elements of character, I consider ”<me-uded”; and
this world is almost full of such "one-sided” men, with
knowledge of that one road only in which they move ;
and anything else is dangerous and horrible to them. To
become harmoniously balanced in all these four directions
is my ideal of religion. And this religion is attained by
what we, in India, call Yoga — ^union. To the worker, it
is union between men and the whole of humanity ; to the
mystic, between his lower and Higher Self ; to the lover,
union between himself and the God of Love ; and to the
philosopher; it is the union of all existence. This is what
is meant by Yoga. This is a Sanskrit term, and these
four divisions of Yoga have in Sanskrit different names.
The man who seeks after this kind of union is called a
Yogi. The worker is called the Karma-Yogi. He iriio
seeks thp union through love is called the Bhakti-Yogi.
He who seeks it through mysticism is called the Rija-
Yogi. And he who seeks it through philcHwphy is call^
the Jnkna-Yogi. So this word Yogi comprises them all.

Now first of all let me take up Rija-Yoga. What is
this Raja-Yoga, this controlling of the mind ? In this
country you are associating all sorts of hobgtddins with the
word Yoga, I am afraid. Therefore, I must start by t^ing
you that it has nothing to do with such things* No one of

THE ^EAL OF A UNIVERSAL REUCION m

these Yogas gives up reason, no one of them asks you to
be hoodwinked, or to deliver your reason into the hands
of priests of any type whatsoever. No one of them asks
that you should give your allegiance to any superhuman
messenger. Each one of them tells you to cling to your
reason to hold fast to it. We find in all beings three sorts
of instruments of knowledge. The first is instinct, which
you find most highly developed in animals ; this is the
lowest instrument of knowledge. What is the second
instrument of knowledge ? Reasoning. You find that
most highly developed in man. Now in the first place,
instinct is an inadequate instrument ; to animals, the
sphere of action is very limited, and within that limit
instinct acts. When you come to man, you see it is
largely developed into reason. The sphere of action also
has here become enlarged. Yet even reason is still very
insufficient. Reason can go only a little way and then it
stops, it cannot go any further ; and if you try to push it,
the result is helpless confusion, reason itself becomes un-
reasonable. Logic becomes argument in a circle. Take,
for instance, the very basis of our perception, matter and
force. What is matter ? That which is acted upon by
force. And force ? That which acts upon matter. You
see the complication, what the logicians call see-saw, one
idea depending on the other, and this again depending on
that. You find a mighty barrier before reason, beyond
which reasoning cannot go ; yet it always feels impatient
to get into the region of the Infinite b&yond. This world,
this universe which our senses feel, or our mind thinks,
is but one atom, so to say, of the Infinite, projected on to
the plane of consciousness ; and within that narrow limit,
defin^ by the network of consciousness, works our
reason, and not beyond. Therefore, there must be some
other instrument to take us beyond, and that instrument
is called inspiration. So instinct, reason, and inspiration are
the three instrumeiits knowledge. Instinct belongs to

S90 SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'8 WOKU

animals, reason to man, and inspinUion to Gk)d-men,' Bid
in all human beings are to be found, in a ntmre or lew
devdoped conditicm, the germs oi all diese three instrU"
menu of knowledge. To have these mental instrumettts
evdved, the germs must be there. And this must also be
remembered, that one iiutrument is a devdopment die
other, and therefore does not contradict it. It is reason
that develops into inspiration, and therefore inspiration
does not contradict reason, but fulfils it. Things which
reason cannot get at are brought to light by inspiration ;
and they do not contradict reason. The old man does
not contradict the child, but fulfils the child. Therefore
you must always bear in mind that the great danger lies
in mistaking the lower form of instrument to be the
higher. Many times instinct is presented before the
world as inspiration, and then come all the spurious daims
for the gift of prophecy. A fool or a semi-lunatic thinks
that the confusion going on in his brain is inspiration, and
he wanu men to follow him. The most contradictory
irrational nonsense that has been preached in the world
is simply the instinctive jargon of confused lunatic brains
trying to pass for the language of inspiration.

The first test of true teaching must be, tliat the teach-
ing should not contradict reason. And you may see that
such is the basis of all these Yogas. We take the Raja-
Yoga, the psychological Yoga, the psychological way to
union. It is a vast subject, and I can only point out to
you now, the central idea of this Yoga. We have but one
method of acquiring knowledge. From the lowest man to
the highest Yogi, aU have to use the same method ; and
that method is what is called concentration. The chemist
who works in his laboratory concentrates all the powers rrf
his mind, brings them into one focus, and throws them on
die dements ; and the elements stand analysed, and thus
Ids knowled^ comes. The astronomer has also conoen*
trated the powers of his mind and brought them into one

. j . THE nXEAL OF A tWIVERSAL KUldON SH

hem ; md be daofWi them w to dbjiecu thxov^ bif
cdeio^ : and stars and systems roll fraward and
up their secrett to him. So it is in every case~with die
{Hrofessor in his chatr, the student with his book— with
every man who. is working to know. You are hearing me,
and if my words interest you, your mind will become
concentrated on diem ; and then suppose a dock strikes,
you will not hear it, on account of this concentration ; and
the more you are able to concentrate your mind, the better
you will understand me ; and the more I concentrate my
love and powers, the better I shall be able to give esqiies*
sion to what I want to convey to you. The more this
power of concentration, the more knowledge is acquired,
because this is the one and only method of acquiring
knowledge. Even the lowest shoeblack, if he gives more
concentration, will black shoes better ; the cook with con*
centration will cook a meal dl the better.. In making
money, or in .worshipping God, or in doing anything, the
stronger the power of concentration, the better will that
thing be done. This is the one call, the one knock, which
opens the gates of nature, and lets out floods of light.
This, the power of concentration, is the only key to the
treasure-house of knowledge. The system of Raja-Yoga
deals almost exdusivdy with this. In the preset state
of our body we are so much distracted, and the mind is
frittering away its energies upon a hundred sorts of things.
As soon as I try to calm my thoughts and concentrate my
mind upon any one object of knowledge, thousands of
tmdesir^ impidses rush into the brain, thousands of
droughts rush into the mind and disturb it. How to chedr
it and bring the mind under control is the whole subject
of study in Raja-Yoga.

- Now take Karma-Yoga, the attainment of God through
wmk. It is evident that in society diere are many persons
who seem to be bom for some sort of activity or other,
whose minds cannot- be concentrated on the plane of

S92

SWAMl VIWKANANDA’S WORKS

thought alone, and who have hut one idea, concretised in
work, visible and tangible. There must be a science for
this kind of life too. Each one of us is engaged in smne
work, but the majority of us fritter away the greater
portion of our energies, because we do not know the
secret of work. Karma-Yt^ explains this secret and
teaches where and how to work, how to employ to the
greatest advantage the largest part of our energies in the
work that is before us. But with this secret we must take
into consideration the great objection against work,
namely that it causes pain. All misery and pain come
from attachment. I want to do work, I want to do good
to a human being ; and it is ninety, to one that that human
being whom I have helped will prove ungrateful and go
against me ; and the result to me is pain. Such things
deter mankind from working ; and it spoils a good portion
of the work and energy of mankind, this fear of pain and
misery, Karma-Yoga teaches us how to work for work’s
sake, unattached, without caring who is helped, and what
for. The Karma-Yogi works because it is his nature,
because he feeh that it is good for him to do so, and he
has no object beyond that. His position in this world is
that of a giver, and he never cares to receive anything.
He knows that he is giving, and does not ask for anything
in return and, therefore, he eludes the grasp of misery.
The grasp of pain, whenever it comes, is the result of the
reaction of "attachment”.

There is then the Bhakti-Yoga for the man of emo-
tional nature, the lover. He wants to love God, he relies
upon and uses all sorts of rituals, flowers, incense, beauti-
ful buildings, forms and all such things. Do you mean to
say they are wrong? One fact I must tell you. It is good
for you to remember, in this country eq>ecially, that the
world’s great spiritual giants have all been produced only
by those religious sects which have been in possession of
very rich mythology and ritual. All sectt that- have

THE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL RELIGION

atten^ted to wordiip God without any fom or ceremony
have crushed without mercy everything that is beautiful
and sublime in rel^ion. Their religion is a fanaticism at
best, a dry thing. The history of the world is a standing
witness to this fact. Therefore do not decry these rituals
and mythologies. Let people have them ; let those who
so desire have them. Do not exhibit that unworthy
derisive smile, and say, "They are fools ; let them have
it.” Not so ; the greatest men I have seen in my life, the
most wonderfully developed in spirituality, have all come
throuj^ the discipline of these rituals. 1 do not hold
mysdf worthy to sit at their foet, and for me to criticise
them\ How do I know how these ideas act upon the
human mind, which of them I am to accept and which to
reject? We are apt to criticise everything in the world
without sufficient warrant. Let people have all the mythol-
ogy they want, with its beautiful inspirations; for you
must always bear in mind that emotional natures do not
care for abstract definitions of the truth. God to them
'is something tangible, the only thing that is real ; they fed,
hear, and see Him, and love Him. Let them have their
God. Your rationalist seems to them to be like the fool
who, when he saw a beautiful statue, wanted to break
it to find out of what material it was made. Bhakti-Yoga
teaches them how to love, without any ulterior motives,
loving God and loving the good because it is good to do
so, not for going to h«iven, nor to g^et children, wealth,
or anything else. It teadiM them that love itself is the
highest recompense of love — ^that God Himself is love.
It teaches them to pay all kinds of tribute to God as the
Creator, the Omnipresent, Omniscient, Almighty Ruler,
the Father and the Mother. The highest phrase that can
express Him, the highest idea that the human mind can
conceive of Him, is that He is the God of Love. Wherever
there is love, it is He. "Wherever there is any love, it is
He, the Lord is present there.” Where the husband kisses

SM

SWAMl V1V£KANAN0A’S WORKS

the wife. He is there in the kiss ; whore the modter kism
the diild. He is there in the kiss ; where friends daqt
hands. He, the Lord, is present as -the God ol Love.
When a great man loves and wishes to hdp mankind.
He is there giving freely His boimty out of His love to
mankind. Wherever the heart expands. He is there
manifested. This is what the Bhakti-Yoga teaches.

We lastly come to the Jnana-Yogi, the philosopher,
the thinker, he who wants to go beyond the visible. He
is the man who is not satisfied with the little things of
this world. His idea is to go beyond the daily routine of
eating, drinking, and so on ; not even the teaching of
thousands of books will satisfy him. Not even all the
sciences will satisfy him ; at the best, they only bring this
little world before him. What else will give him satisfac-
tion? Not even myriads of systems of worlds will satisfy
him i they are to him but a drop in the ocean of existence.
His soul wants to go beyond all that into the very heart
of being, by seeing Reality as It is ; by realising It, by
being It, by becoming one with that Universal Being.
That is the philosopher. To say that God is the Father
or the Mother, the Creator of this universe, its Protector
and Guide, is to him quite inadequate to express Him.
To him, God is the life of his life, the soul of his soul.
God is his own Self. Nothing else remains which is other
than God. All the mortal parts of him become pounded
by the weighty strokes of philosophy and are brushed
away. What at last truly remains is God Himself.

Upon the mme tree there are two birds, (me (m the
top, the other below. The one on the top is calm, silent,
and majestic, immersed in his own glory; the. one on the
lower branches, eating sweet and bitter fruits by tums^
hopping from branch to branch, is becoming happy and
miserable by turns. After a time the lower bird eats an
exceptionally bitter fruit and gets disgusted and looks up ,
and sees the othm* bird, that wondrous one of golden

THE IDEAL OF A UNIVERSAL REUGION

plumage, who eats neither sweet nor bitter fruit, who is
neither happy nor miserable, but calm. Self-centred, and
sees nothing beyond his Self. The lower bird longs for
this condition but soon forgets it, and again begins to eat
the fruits. In a little while, he eats another exceptionally
bitter fruit, which makes him feel miserable, and he again
looks up, and tries to get nearer to the upper bird. Once
more he forgets and after a time he looks up, and so on
he goes again and again, until he comes very near to the
beautiful bird and sees the reflection of light from his
plumage playing around his own body, and he feels a
change and seems to melt away ; still nearer he comes,,
and everything about him melts away, and at last he
understands this wonderful change. The lower bird was,
as it were, only the substantial-looking shadow, the reflec-
tion of the higher ; he himself was in essence the upper
bird all the time. This eating of fruits, sweet and bitter,
this lower, little bird, weeping and happy by turns, was
a vain chimera, a dream: all along, the real bird was
there above, calm and silent, glorious and majestic,
beyond grief, beyond sorrow. The upper bird is God,,
the Lord of this universe ; and the lower bird is the human
soul, eating the sweet and bitter fruits of this world. Now
and then comes a heavy blow to the soul. For a time,
he stops the eating and goes towards the unknown God,
and a flood of light comes. He thirfks that this world is
a vain show. Yet again the senses drag him down, and
he begins as before to eat the sweet and bitter fruits of
the world. Again an exceptionally hard blow comes.
His heart becomes open again to divine light ; thus
gradually he approaches God, and as he gets nearer and
nearer, he finds his old self melting away. When he has^
come near enough, he sees that he is no other than God,
and he exclaims, 'He whom I have described to you as
the Life of this universe, as present in the atom, and in
suns and moons — ^He is the basis of our own life, the Soul
II— 26

$96

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA*S WORKS

of our soul. Nay, thou art That.” This is what this
Jnana-Yoga teadias. It tells man that he is essentially
divine. It shows to mankind the real unity of beittg, and
that each one of us is the Lord God Hinuelf, manitoted
on earth. All of us, from the lowest worm that crawls
under our feet to the hipest beings to whom we look up
with wonder and awe— ^ are numifestations of the same
Lord.

Lastly, it is imperative that all these various Yogas
should be carried out in. practice ; mere theories about
them will not do any good. First we have to hear about
them, then we have to think about them. We have to
reason the thoughts out, impress them on our minds, and
we have to meditate on them, realise them, until at last
they become our whole life. No longer will religion remain
a bundle of ideas or theories, nor an intellectual assent ; it
will enter into our very self. By means of intellectual
assent we may today subscribe to many foolish things,
and change our minds altogether tomorrow. But true
religion never changes. Religion is realisation ; not talk,
nor doctrine, nor theories, however beautiful they may be.
It is being and becoming, not hearing or acknowledging ;
it is the whole soul bectuning changed into what it believes.
That is religicm.

THE OPEN SECRET

(Delivered at Los Angeles, Calif., }th January 1900)

Whichever way we turn in trying to understand things
in their reality, if we analyse far enough, we find that at
last we come to a peculiar state of things, seemingly a
contradiction: something which our reason cannot grasp
and yet is a fact. We take up something— we know it is
finite ; but as soon as we begin to analyse it, it leads us
beyond our reason, and we never find an end to all its
qualities, its possibilities, its powers, its relations. It has
become infinite. Take even a common flower, that is
finite enough ; but who is there that can say he knows all
about the flower? There is no possibility -(tf anyone’s
getting to the end of the knowledge about that one flower.
The flower has become infinite — ^the flower which was
finite to begin with. Take a grain of sand. Analyse it
We start with the assumption that it is finite, and at last
we find that it is not, it is infinite ; all the same, we have
looked upon it as finite. The flower is similarly treated
as a finite something.

So with all our thoughts and experiences, physical and
mental. We begin, we may think, on a small scale, and
grasp them as litde things ; but very {oon they elude our
knowledge and plunge into the abyss of the infinite. And
the greatest and the first thing perceived is ourselves. We
are also in the same dilemma about existence. We exist.
We see we are finite beings. We live and die. Our hori-
zon is narrow. We are here, limited, confronted by the
universe all around. Nature can crush us out of existence
In a moment. Our little bodies are just held together,
ready to go to pieces at a moment’s noUce. We know
that. In the region of action how powerless we arel Our

S98 SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

will is being thwarted at every turn. So many things we
want to do, and how few we can do! There is no limit
to our willing. We can will everything, want everything;
we can desire to go to the dogstar. But how few of our
desires can be accomplished! The body will not allow
it. Well, nature is against the accomplishment of our will.
We are weak. What is true of the flower, of the grain
of sand, of the physical world, and of every thought, is
a hundredfold more true of ourselves. We are dso in
the same dilemma of existence, being finite and infinite
at the same time. We are like waves in the ocean ; the
wave is the ocean and yet not the ocean. There is not
any part of the wave of which you cannot say, “It is the
ocean.” The name “ocean” applies to the wave and equally
to every other part of the ocean, and yet it is separate
from the ocean. So in this infinite ocean of existence
we are like wavelets. At the same time, when we want
really to grasp ourselves, we cannot — we have become the
infinite.

We seem to be walking in dreams. Dreams are all
right in a dream-mind ; but as soon as you want to graq>
one of them, it is gone. Why? Not that it was false, but
because it is beyond the power of reason, the power of the
intellect to comprehend it. Everything in this life is so
vast that the intellect is nothing in comparison with it. It
refuses to be bound by the laws of the intellect! It laughs
at the bondage the intellect wants to spread around it.
And a' thousandfold more so is this the case with the
human soul. “We ourselves” — this is the greatek mystery
of the universe.

How wonderful it all is! Look at the human eye.
How easily it can be destroyed, and yet the biggest suns
exist only because your eyes see them. The world exists
because your eyes certify that it exists. Think of that
mystery! These poor little eyes! A strong light, or a pin,
can destroy them. Yet the most powerful engines of

THE OreN SECEET

destruction^ the most pow^ul cataclysms, the most
wondmlal <d existences, millions suns and stan and
moons and earth — all depend for their existence upon, and
have to be certified by, these two little thingsl They say,
“Nature, you exist”, and we believe nature exists. So with
all our senses.

What is this? Where is weakness? Who is strong?
What is great and what is small? What is high and what
is low in this marvellous interdependence of existence
where the smallest atom is necessary for the existence of
the whole? Who is great and who is small? It is past
finding out! And why? Because none is great and none
is small. All things are interpenetrated by that infinite
ocean ; their reality is that infinite ; and whatever there is
on the surface is but that infinite. The tree is infinite ; so
is everything that you see or fed— every grain of sand,
every thought, every soul, everything that exists, is infinite.
Infinite is finite and finite infinite. This is our existence.

Now, that may be all true, but aH this feeling after the
Infinite is at present mosdy unconscious. It is not that we
have forgotten that infinite nature of ours: none can ever
do that. Who can ever think that he can be annihilated?
Who can think that he will die? None can. All our
relation to the Infinite works in us unconsciously. In a
manner, therefore, we forget our real being, and hence all
this misery comes.

In practical daily life we are hu^t by small things ;
we are enslaved by little beings. Misery comes because
we think. we are finite — ^we are little beings. And yet,
how difficult it is to bdieve that we are infinite beings!
In the midst of all this misery and trouble, when a little
thing may throw me off my balance, it must be my care
to believe that I am infinite. And the fact is that we are,
and that consciously or unconsciously we are all searching
after that something which is infinite ; we are always
seeking for something that is free.

400

SWAM( \1VEKANANDA*S WORKS

There was never a human race which did not have a
religion and worship some sort God or gods. Whether
the God or gods existed or not is no question ; but. what is
the analysis of this psychcdogical phenomenon? Why is
all the world trying to find, or seeking for, a God? Why?
Because in spite of all this bondage, in spite of nature and
this tremendous energy law grinding us down, never
allowing us to turn to any side — ^wherever we go, whatever
we want to do, we are thwarted by this law, which is
everywhere— in spite <d all this, the human soul never
forgets its freedom and is ever seeking it. The search for
freedom is the search of all religions ; whether they know
it or not, whether they can formulate it well or ill, the
idea is there. Even the lowest man, the most ignorant,
seeks for something which has power over nature's laws.
He wants to see a demon, a ghost, a god — somebody who
can subdue nature, for whom nature is not almi^ty, for
whom there is no law. "Oh, for somebody who can break
the lawl " That is the cry coming horn the human heart.
We are always seekii^ for someone who breaks the law.
The rudiing engine speeds along the railway tradi; the
little worm crawls out of its way. We at once say, "The
engine is dead matter, a machine ; and the worm is alive,"
because the worm attempted to break the law. The mgine,
with all its power and mi^t, can never break the law.
It is made to go in any direction man wants, and it cannot
do otherwise ; but the worm, small and little thou|^ it
was, attinnpted to break the law and avoid the danger. It
tried to assert itself against law, assert its fireedom; and
there was the sign of the future God in it

Everywhere we see this assertion of freedom, this
freedom of the soul. It is reflected in every leligum in the
shape of God or gods ; but it is all external yet-4or those
who only see the gods outside. Man decided that he was
nothing. He was afraid that he could never be free ; so
he went to seek for someone outride of nature who was

Tm Q»N SECRET

401

free. TlMn he thought that there were many and many
sudi free beings, and pndually he merged them all into
one t3od of gods and Lord of lords. Even that did not
satisfy him. He came a little closer to truth, a little nearer ;
and dien gradually found that whatever he was, he was
in some way connected with the God of gods and Lord <d
lords ; that he, though he thought himself bound and low
and weak, was somehow connorted with that God of gods.
Then visions came to him ; thought arose and knowledge
advanced. And he began to come nearer and nearer to
that God, and at last found out that God and all the gods,
this whole psychological phenomenon connected with the
search for an all>powerful free soul, was but a reflection ol
his own idea of himself. And then at last he discovered
that it was not only true that "God made man after His
own image”, but that it was also true that man made God
after his own image. That brought out the idea of divine
freedom. The Divine Being was always within, the nearest
of the near. Him we had ever been seeking outside,
and at last found that He is in the heart of our hearts.
You may know the story of the man who mistook his own
heartbeat for somebody knodiing at the door, and went
to the door and opened it, but found nobody there, so he
wait back. Again he seemed to hear a knocking at the
door, but nobody was there. Then he understood that it
was his own heartbeat, and he had misinterpreted it as a
knocking at the door. Similarly, man after his search
finds out that this infinite freedom that he was placing in
imagination all the time in the nature outride is the
internal subject, the eternal Soul of souk ; this Reality,
he faimsdf.

Thus at last he comes to recognise thu marvdlous
duality oi existence: the subject, infinite and ijpi^
one— the Infinite Being is also the same finite soul. The
Tnfihitii is caug^tt » it were, in the meshes of the intellect

402 SWAMl VIVEKANANlkA'S WORKS

and apparently manifests as finite beings, but the reality
remains unchanged.

This is, therefore, true knowledge: that the Soul of
our souls, the Reality that is within us, is That whidi is
unchangeable, eternal, ever-blessed, evcr-free. This is the
only solid ground for us to stand upon.

This, then, is the end of all death, the advent of all
immortality, the end of all misery. And he, who sees that
One among the many, that One unchangeable in the
universe of change, he who sees Him as the Soul of his
soul, unto him belongs eternal peace — unto none else.

And in the midst of the depths of misery and degrada-
tion, the Soul sends a ray of light, and man wakes up and
finds that what is really his, he can never lose. No, we
can never lose what is really ours. Who can lose his being?
Who can lose his very existence ? If 1 am good, it is the
existence first, and then that becomes coloured with the
quality of goodness. If I am evil, it is the existence first,
and that becomes coloured with the quality of badness.
That existence is first, last, and always ; it is never lost,
but ever present.

Therefore, there is hope for all. None can die ; none
can be degraded for ever. Life is but a playground, how-
ever gross the play may be. However we may receive
blows, and however knocked about we may be, the Soul
is there and is never injured. We are that Infinite.

Thus sang a Vedantin, "I never had fear nor doubt.
Death never came to me. I never had father or mother:
for I was never bom. Where are my foes? — ^for I am All.
I am the Existence and Knowledge and Bliss Abstdute.
I am It. I am It. Anger and lust and jealousy, evil
thoughts and all these things, never came to me ; for I am
the Existence, the Knowledge, the Bliss Absolute. I am It
I am If.”

That is the remedy for all disease, the nectar that cures
death. Here we are in this world, and our nature rebels

THE OPEN SECRET

4M

against it. But let us repeat. “1 am It ; I am It. I have
no £ear, nor doubt, nor death. I have no sex, nor creed,
nm colour. What creed can 1 have ? What- sect is there
to which I should belong ? What sect can hold me ? 1
am in every sect!"

However much the body rebds, however much the
mind rebels, in the midst of the uttermost darkness, in the
midst of agonisipg tortures, in the uttermost despair, repeat
this, once, twice, thrice, ever more. Light comes gently,
slowly, but surely it comes.

Many times I have been in the jaws of death, starving,
footsore, and weary; for days and days I had had no
food, and often could walk no farther ; I would sink down
under a tree, and life would seem ebbing away. I could
not speak, I could scarcely think, but at last the mind
reverted to the idea : “I have no fear nor death ; I never
hunger nor thirst. 1 am It! I am It! The whole of nature
cannot crush me ; it is my servant. Assert thy strength,
thou Lord of lords and God of gods! Regain thy lost
empire! Arise and walk and stt^ noli" And I would rise
up, reinvigorated, and here an! I, living, today. Thus,
whenever darkness comes, assert the reality and everything
adverse must vanish. For, after all, it is but a dream.
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and
gloomy though all things seem, they are but M&yft. Fear
not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp
upon it, and it dies. Be not afraid. Think not how many
times you fail. Never mind. Time is infinite. Go for-
ward: assert yourself again and again, and light must
come. You may pray to everyone that was ever bom,
but who will come to help you ? And what of the way of
death from which none knows escape ? Help thyself out
by thyself. ' None else can help thee, friend. For thou
alone art thy greatest enemy, thou alone art thy greatest
friend. Get hold of the SeU, then. Stand up. Don’t be
afraid. In the midst of all miseries and all weakness, let

404

SWAMl Vn^KANANDA’S WORKS

the Sdf come oat, foint and uni>en:eptible though it be
first. You will gain courage, and at last like a Item you
will roar out, "I am It! lam Itl ” “1 am neither a man,
nor a woman, nor a god, nor a demon ; no, nor any of the
animals, plants, or trees. I am neither poor nor rich,
neither learned nor ignorant. All these things are very
little compared with what I am: for I am Itl I am Itl
Behold the sun and the moon and the stars: 1 am the
light that is shining in theml I am the beauty of the
fire! I am the power in the universel For, 1 am Itl I
am Itl

“Whoever thinks that I am little makes a mistake, for
the Self is all that exists. The sun exists because I declare
it does, the world exists because L declare it does. With-
out me they cannot remain, for I am Existence, Knowledge,
and Bliss Absolute — ever happy, ever pure, ever beautiful.
Behold, the sun is the cause of our vision, but is not itself
ever affected by any defect in the eyes of any one ; even
so I . am. I am working through all organs, working
through everything, but never does the good and evil of
work attach to me. For me there is no law, nor Karma.
I own the laws of Karma. I ever was and ever am.

“My real pleasure was never in earthly things — ^in
husband, wife, ^ildren, and other things. For I am like the
infinite blue sky: clouds of many colours pass over it and
play for a second ; they move off, and there is the same
unchangeable blue. Happiness and misery, good and evil,
may ^velop me for a moment, veiling the Self ; but I am
still there. They pass away because they are changeaUe.
I shine, because I am unchangeable. If misery comes, I
know it is finite, therefore it must die. If evil comes, I
know it is finite, it must go. I alone am infinite and un-
touched by anything. For I am the Infinite, that Eternal,
Changeless Self.” — So singi one of our poets.

Let us drink of this cup, this cup dmt leads to evory-
thing that is immortal, everything that is undiaageable.

ff. THE OPEN SECRET 40S

Fear not. Believe not that we are evil, that we are finite*
that we can ever die. It is not true.

“This is to be heard of, then to be thought upon,
and then to be meditated upon.” When the hands work,
the mind should repeat, “1 am It. I am It.” Think of it,
dream of it, until it becomes bone of your bones and
flesh of your flesh, until all the hideous dreams of little*
ness, of weakness, of misery, and of evil, have entirely
vanished, and no more then can the Truth be hidden from
you even for a moment.

THE WAY TO BLESSEDNESS

I shall tell you a story from the Vedas tonight. The
Vedas are the saaed scriptures of the Hindus and are a
vast collection of literature, of which the last part* is called
the Vedanta, meaning the end of the Vedas. It deals
with the theories contained in them, and more especially
the philosophy with which we are concerned. It is
written in archaic Sanskrit, and you must remember it
was written thousands of years ago. There was a certain
man who wanted to make a big sacrifice. In the religion
of the Hindus, sacrifice plays a great part. There are
various sorts of sacrifices. They make altars and pour
oblations into the fire, and repeat various hymns and so
forth ; and at the end of the saaifice they make a gift to
the Brahmins and the poor. Each sacrifice has its
peculiar gift. There was one sacrifice, where everything
a man possessed had to be given up. Now this man,
though rich, was miserly, and at the same time wanted to
get a great name for having done this most difiBcuIt
sacrifice. And when he did this sacrifice, instead of
giving up everything he had, he gave away only his Uind,
lame, and old cows that would never more give milk. But
he had a son called Nachiketas, a bright young boy, who,
observing the poor gifts made by his father, and pondering
on the 'demerit that was sure to accrue to him thereby,
resolved to make amends for them by making a gift of
himself. So he went to his father and said, “And to whom
will you give me ?“ The father did not answer the boy,
and the boy asked a second and a third time, when the
father got vexed and said, “Thee I give unto Yama, thee
I give unto Death." And the boy went straight to the
kingdom of Yama. Yama was not at home, so he waited
there. After three days Yama came and said to hhn, “O

THE WAY TO BLESSEDNESS 407

Brahmin, thou art my guest, and thou hast been here for
three days without any food. I salute thee, and in order
to repay thee fm this trouble, 1 will grant thee three
boons.” Then the boy asked the first boon, "May my
father’s anger against me get calmed down,” and the second
boon was that he wanted to know about a certain
sacrifice. And then came the third boon. "When a
man dies, the question arises: What becomes of him? Some
people say he ceases to exist. Others say that he exists.
Please tell me what the answer is. This is the third boon
that I want.” Then Death answered, “The gods in
ancient times tried to unravel the mystery ; this mystery
is so fine that it is hard to know. Ask for some other
boon: do not ask this one. Ask for a long life of a
hundred years. Ask for cattle and horses, ask for great
kingdoms. Do not press me to answer this. Whatever
man desires for his enjoyment, ask all that and I will
fulfil it, but do not want to know this secret.” "No,
sir,” said the boy, “man is not to be satisfied with
wealth ; if wealth were wanted, we should get it, if we
have only seen you. We shall also live so long as you
rule. What decaying mortal, living in the world below
and possessed of knowledge, having gained the company
of the undecaying and the immortal, will delight in long
life, knowing the nature of the pleasure produced by
song and sport ? Therefore, tell me this secret about the
great hereafter, I do not want anything else ; that is what
Nachiketas wants, the mystery of death.” Then the God
of death was pleased. We have been saying in the last
two or three lectures that this Jnilna prepares the mind.
So you see here that the fint preparation is that a man
must desire nothing else but the truth, and truth for truth’s <
sake. See how this boy rejected all these gifts which
Death offered him ; possessions, property, wealth, long
life, and everything he was ready to sacrifice for this
one idea, knowledge only, the truth. Thus alone can

40S SWAMI VIVEKAMANOA'S WC»IKS

trutli come. The God of deaUi became pleased. "Here
are two ways," he said, "one of enjoyment, the other of
blessedness. These two' in various wa^ draw mankind.
He becomes a sage who, of these two, takes up that which
leads to blessedness, and he degenerates who takes up.
the road to enjoyment. I praise you, Nachiketas ; you
have not asked for desire. In various ways I tempted you
towards the path of enjoyment ; you resisted them- all, you
have known that knowledge is much higher than a life
of enjoyment.

"You have understood that the man who lives in
ignorance and enjoys, is not different from the brute
beast. Yet there are many who, though steeped in
ignorance, in the pride of their hearts, think that they are
great sages and go round and round in many crooked
ways, like the blind led by the blind. This truth,
Nachiketas, never shines in the heart of those who are like
ignorant children, deluded by a few lumps of earth. They
do not understand this world, nor the other world. They
deny this and the other one, and thus again and again
come under my control. Many have not even the oppor-
tunity to hear about it ; and many, though hearing, cannot
know it, because the teacher must be wonderful ; so must
he be wonderful too unto whom the knowledge is carried.
If the speaker is a man who is not highly advanced,
then even a hundred times heard, and a hundred times
taught, the truth never illiunines the soul. Do not disturb
your mind by vain arguments, Nachiketas; this truth
only becomes effulgent in the heart which has been made
pure. He, who cannot be seen without the greatest
difficulty. He who is hidden. He who has entered the
cave (ff the heart of hearts— the Andent One — cannot be
seen with the external eyes; seeing Him with the eyes
of the soul, one gives up both pleasure and pain. He
triro . knows this secret gives up all his vain desires, and
attains this superfine perception, and thus becmnes ever

THE WAY TO SLESHLimiSS 4W

bltwed. Nachiketas. that it Om way to blenednen He
is beyond all virtue, beytmd ail vicx, beyond dl duties,
beyMid adl mut^duties, beyraul all existence, beyond all
duit is to be; he who knows this, alone knows. He
whom all the Vedas seek, to see whom men undergo all
scuts of asceticinu, 1 will tdl you His name: It is Om.
This eternal Om is die Brahman, this is the immortal
One ; he who knows the secret of this— ^whatever he
desires is his. This Self of man, Nachiketas, about which
you seek to know, is never bom, and never dies. With-
out beginning, ever existing, this Ancient One is not
destroyed, when the body is destroyed. If the slayer
thinks that he can slay, and if the slain man thinks he
is slain, both are mistaken, for neither can the Self kill,
nor can It be killed. Infinitdy smaller than the smallest
particle, infinitely greater than the greatest existence, the
Lord of all lives in the cave of the heart of every being.
He who has become sinless sees Him in all His glory,
through the mercy of the same Lord. (We find that the
mercy of Gcxl is one of the causes of God-realisation.)
Sitting He goes far, lying He goes everywhere ; who else
but men of purified and subtle understanding are qualified
to know the God in whom all conflicting attributes meet ?
Without body, yet living in the body, untouched, yet
seemingly in contact, omnipresent — ^knowing the Atman
to be such, the sage g^ves up all misery. This Aiman is
not to be attained by the study of the ,Vedas, nor by the
highest intellect, nor by much learning. Whom the
Atman seeks, he gets the Atman ; unto him He discloses
His 0ory. He who is continuously doing evil deeds, he
whose >«aind is not calm, he who cannot meditate, he who
is always disturbed and fickte— he cannot understand and
realise this Atman who has entered the cave oi the heart.
This body, O Nachiketas, is the chariot, the organs of
the senses are the hones, the mind is the ipins, the
intellect is the charioteer, and the soul is the rider in the

410

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS •

chariot. When the soul joins himself with the charioteer,
Buddhi or intellect, and then through it with the mind,
the reins, and through it again with the organs, die horses,
he is said to be the onjoyer ; he perceives, he works, he
acts. He whose mind is not under control, and who has
no discrimination, his senses are not controllable like
vicious horses in the hands of a driver. But he vdio has
discrimination, whose mind is controlled, his organs ace
always controllable like good horses in the hands of a
driver. He who has discrimination, whose mind is always
in the way to understand truth, who is always pure —
he receives that truth, attaining which there is no rebirth.
This, O Nachiketas, is very difficult, the way is long, and
it is hard to attain. It is only those who have attained
the finest perception that can see it, that can understand
it. Yet do not be fiightened. Awake, be up and doing.
Do not stop till you have reached the goal. For the sages
say that the task is very difficult, like walking tm the
edge of a razor. He who is beyond the senses, beyond
all touch, beyond all form, beyond all taste, the Un<
changeable, the Infinite, beyond even intelligence, die
Indestructible — ^knowing Him alone, we are safe from the
jaws of death.”

So far, we see that Yama describes the goal that is to
be attained. The first idea that we get is that birth, death,
misery, and the various tossings about to which we are
subject in the world can only be overcome by knowing
that 'which is real. What is real ? That which never
changes, the Self of man, the Self behind the universe.
Then, again, it is said that it is very difficult to know Him.
Knowing does not mean simply intellectual assent, it
means realisation. Again and again we have read that this
Self is to be seen, to be perceived. We cannot see it with
the eyes ; the perception for it has to become superfine.
It is gross perception by which the walls and books are
perceived, but the perception to discern die truth has to

' THE WAY TO BLESSEDNESS 411

be made very fine» and diat is the whdle seaet of this
knowledge. Then Yama Says that one must be very pure.
That is the way to making the perception soperfine ; and
then he goes on to tell us other ways. That self-existent
One is far removed from the organs. The organs or
instruments see outwards* but the self^xisting One* the
Self* is seen inwards. You must remember the qualifica-
tion that is required: the desire to know this Self by
turning the eyes inwards. All these beautiful things that
we see in nature are very good* but that is not the way
to see God. We must learn how to turn the eyes inwards.
The eagerness of the eyes to see outwards should be
restricted. When you walk in a busy street* it is difficult
to hear the man speak with whom you are walking*
because of the noise of the passing carriages. He cannot
hear you because there is so much noise. The mind is
going outwards* and you cannot hear the man who is
next to you. In the same way* this world around us is
making such a noise that it draws the mind outwards.
How can we see the Self ? This going outwards must
be stopped. That is what is meant by turning the eyes
inwards* and then alone the glory of the Lord within will
be seen.

What is this Self ? We have seen that It is even
beyond the intellect. We learn from the same Upanishad
that this Self is eternal and omnipresent, that you and 1
and all of us are omnipresent beings* ^d that the Self is
changeless. Now this omnipresent Being can be only one.
There cannot be two beings who are equally omnipresent
— ^how could that be ? There cannot be two bejngs who
are infinite* and the result is* there is really only one Self*
and you* I* and the whole universe are but one* appearing
as many. '*As the one fire entering into the world mani-
fests itself in various ways* even so that one Self* the Self
of all* manifests Itself in every form.’' But the question
is: If this Sielf is perfect and pure* and the One iteing of
11—27

412

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WOMCS

the universe what become* of It when It goes into t^
impure body, the widced body, the good body, and lo
on ? How pm It remain perfect } "The one tun it die
cause of vitign in every eye, yet it is not touched by the
defects in the eyes of any." If a man hat jaundice he seel
everything as ydlow ; the cause of hit vision is the sun,
but hit seeing everything as yellow does not touch the
tun. Even so this One Being, though the Self of every
one, is not touched by the purities or impurities outside.
"In this world where everything is evanescent, he who
knows Him who never changes, in this world of
insentiency, he who knows the one sentient Being, in
this world of many, he who knows this One and sees
Him in his own soul, unto him belongs eternal bliss, to
none else, to none else. There the sun shines not, nor
the stars, nor the lightning fladies, what to speak of fire ?
He shining, everything shines ; through His light every-
thing becomes effulgent. When all the desires that
trouble the heart cease, then the mortal becomes
immortal, and here one attains Brahman. When all the
crookedness of the heart disappears, when all its knots
are cut asunder, then altme the mortal becomes immortal.
This is the way. May this study bless us ; may it maintain
us ; may it give us strength, may it become energy in us ;
may we not hate each other; peace unto allt"

This is the line of thought that you will find in the
Vedanta philosophy. We see first that here is a thought
entir^y different from what you see anywhere else in the
world. In the oldest parts of the Vedas the search was
the sama. as in other books, the seardi was outside. In
some of the old, old books, the questi<m was raised,
"What was in the beginning ? When there was neither
aught nor naught, when darkness was covering darkness,
who created all this ?” So the seardi began. And they
began to talk about the angds, the Devas, and all sorts cl
tilings, and later on we find that they gave it up as hopeless.

THE WAY TO UESSEDNESS

419

In their day the search was outside and they wuld
find nothing ; but in later days, as we read in the Vedas,
they had to look inside for the self-existent One. This
is the one fundamental idea in the Vedas, th^t our seaich
in the stars, the nebulae, the Milky Way, in the whtde
of this external universe leads to nothing, never solves the
problem of life and death. The wonderful mechanism
inside had to be analysed, and it revealed to them the
secret of the univene ; nor star or sun could do it. Man
had to be anatomised ; not the body, but the soul of
man. In that soul they found the answer. What was the
answer they found ? That behind the body, behind even
the mind, there is the self-existent One. He dies not,
nor is He bom. The self-existent One is omnipresent,
because He has no form. That which has no form or
shape, that which is not limited by space or time, cannot
live in a certain place. How can it ? It is everywhere,
omnipresent, equally present throu^ all of us.

What is the soul of man ? There was one party who
held that there is a Being, God, and an infinite number
of souls besides, who are eternally separate from God
in essence, and form, and everything. This is dualism.
This is the old, old erode idea. The answer given by
another party was that the soul was a part the infinite
Divine Existence. Just as this body is a little world by
itself, and behind it is the mind or thought, and behind
that is the individual soul, similarly, the whole world- is
a body, and behind that is the universal mind, and behind
that is the universal Soul. Just as this body is a portion
of the universal body, so this mind is a portion of the
univmal mind, and the soul of man a portion of the
universal Soul. This is what is called the Vishishtidvaita,
qualified monism. Now, we know that the universal Soul
is infinite. How can infinity have parts ? How can it be
broken up, divided ? It may be very poetic to say that I
am a spark of the Infinite, but it is absurd to the thinking

414

SWAMl VIVULANANDA‘S WORKS

mind. What is meant by dividing Infinity? Is it soraC'
thing material that you can part or^separate it into
pieces ? Infinite can never be divided. If that we^
possible, it would be no mote Infinite. What is the con*
elusion then ? The answer is, that Soul which is the
universal is you ; you are not a part but the whole of It.
You are the whole of God. Then what are all these
varieties ? We find so many millions of individual souls.
What are they ? If the sun reflects upon millions of
globules of water, in each globule is the form, the perfect
image of the sun ; but they are only images, and the real
sun is only one. So this apparent soul that is in every
one of us is only the inu^e of God, nothii^ beyond that.
The real Being who is behind, is that one God. We are
all one there. As Self, there is only one in the universe.
It is in me and you, and is only-one ; and that one Self
has been reflected in all these various bodies as various
different selves. But we do not know this ; we think we
are separate from each other and separate from Him.
And so long as we think this, misery will be in the world.
This is hallucination.

Then the other great source of misery is fear. Why
does one man injure another ? Because he fears he will
not have enough enjoyment. One man fears that,
perhaps, he will not have enough money, and that fear
causes him to injure others and rob them. How can
there be fear if there is only one existence ? If a thunder*
bolt klls on my head, it was I who was the thundeiholt,
because I am the only existence. If a plague comi», it is
I ; if a tiger comes, it is I. If death cmneK U is L lam
both death and life. We see that fear comes with the idea
that there are two in the universe. We have -jdways
heud it preached, "Love one another”. What fm ? That
doctrine was preached, but the explanation is here. Why
tiiould I love every one ? Because they and 1 am one.
Why diould I love my brotiier ? Becansevhe and Z are

THE WAV TO BLESSEDNESS

415

one. There is this oneness; this solidarity o£ the whole
universe. From Mie lowest worm that crawls under our
feet to the hij^est beings that ever lived — all have various
bodies, but are the one Soul. Through all mouths, you
eat ; through all hands, you work ; through all eyes, you
see. You enjoy health in millions of bodies, you are
suffering from disease in millions of bodies. When this idea
comes, and we realise it, see it, feel it, then will misery
cease, and fear with it. How can I die ? There is nothing
beyond me. Fear ceases, and then alone comes perfect
happiness and perfect love. That universal sympathy,
universal love, universal bliss, that never changes, raises
man above everything. It has no reactions and no misery
can touch it ; but this little eating and drinking of the
world always brings a reaction. The whole cause of it
is this dualism, the idea that 1 am separate from the
universe, separate from God. But as soon 'as we have
realised that "I am He, I am the Self of the universe, I am
eternally blessed, eternally free” — then will come real
love, fear will vanish, and all misery cease.

YAJNAVALKYA AND MAITREYI

We say, *^That day is indeed a bad day on which
you do not hear the name of the Lord, but a cloudy day
is not a bad day at all.”* Y&jnavalkya was a great sage.
You know, the Shiistras in India enjoin that every man
should give up the world when he becomes old. So
Yajnavalkya said to his wjfe, ”My beloved, here is all
my money, and my possessions, and I am going away.”
She replied, "Sir, if I had this whole earth full of wealdi,
would that give me immbrtality?” Yajnavalkya said,
"No, it will not. You will be rich, and that will be all,
but wealth cannot give us immortality.” She replied,
"What shall I do to gain that through which I shall
become immortal ? If you know, tell me.” Yajnavalkya
replied, ‘ You have been always my beloved ; you are
more beloved now by this question. Come, take your
seat, and 1 will tell you ; and when you have heard,
meditate upon it.” He said, "It is not for the sake of
the husband that the wife loves the husband, but for the
sake of the Atman that she loves the husband, because
she loves the Self. None loves the wife for the sake of
the wife ; but it is because one loves the Self that one loves
the wife. None loves the children for the children ; but
becaqse one loves the Self, therefore one loves the
children. None loves wealth on account of the wealth ;
but because one loves the' Self, therefore one loves
wealth. None loves the Br&hmin for the sake of the
Brahmin; but because one loves the Self,- one loves the
Brahmin. So, none loves the Kshatriya for the sake
of the Kshatriya, but because one loves the Self.
Neither does any one love the wprld on account of the
world, but because one loves the Self. None, similariy,
loves the gods on account of the gods, but because one

YAJNAVALKyA 'AND MATTREYI 417

loves the Self. None l^es a thing for that Uun^a sake ;
but it is for the Sdf that one loves it. This Sdif, there*
fw, is to be heard, reascmed about, and meditated upon.
O my Maitreyi, when ths^ Self has been heard, when that
Self has been seen, when that Sdf has been realised,
that, all this becomes known.'* What do we get then ?
Before us we find a curious philosophy. The statement
has been made that every love is sdfishness in the lowest
sense (rf the word: because I love myself, therefore 1
love another ; it cannot be. There have been philoso-
phers in modern times who have said that self is the
only motive power in the world. That is true, and yet
it is wrong. But thu self is but the shadow of that real
Self which is behind. It appears wrong and evil because
it is small. That infinite love for die Self, which is the
universe, appears to be evil, appears to be small, because
it appears through a small part. Even wh^ the wife
loves the husband, whether she knows it or not, she loves
the husband for that Self. It is selfishness as it is mani-
fested in the world, but that selfishness is really but a
small part of that Self-ness. Whenever one loves, one
has to love in and throu^ the Self. This Self has to be
known. What is the difference ? Those that love the
Self without knowing what It is, their love is selfishness.
Those that love, knowing what that Self is, their love is
free ; they are sages. “Him the Brahmin gives up who
sees the Brahmin anywhere else but»in the Self. Him
the Kshatriya gives up who sees the Kshatriya anywhere
else but in the Self. The world gives him up who sees
this world anywhare but in that Atman. The gods give
him up who loves the gods knowing them to be any-
where else but in the Atman. Everything goes away from
him who knows everything at something else except
the Atman. These Bradrmins, them Kshatriyas, this
world, these gods, whatever exists, everything is that
Atman.” Thus he explains what he means by love.

418 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Every time we particulariae an object, we diffeiciitiate
it from the Self. I am trying to love a woman ; as soon as
that woman is particularised, die is s^arated from the
Atman, and my love for her will not be eternal, but will
end in grief. But as soon as I see that woman as die
Atman, that love becomes perfect, and will nev^r suffer.
So with everything ; as soon as you are attached to any-
thing in the universe, detaching it from the universe as
a whole, from the Atman, there comes a reaction. With
everything that we love outside the Self, grief and misery
will be the result. If we enjoy everything in the Self,
and as the Self, no misery or reaction will come. This
is perfect bliss. How to come to this ideal ? Yajnavalkya
goes on to tell us the process by which to reach that state.
The universe is infinite : how can we take every particular
thing and look at it as the Atman, without knowing the
Atman ? "As with a drum when we are at a distance we
cannot catch the sound, we cannot conquer the sound ;
but as soon as we come to the drum and put our hand
on it, the sound is conquered. When the conch-shell is
being blotvn, we cannot catch or conquer the sound, until
we come near and get hold of the sbdl, and then it is
conquered. When the Vink is being played, when we
have come to the Vina, we get to the centre whence the
sound is proceeding. As when some one is burning
damp fuel, smoke and sparks of various kinds come, even
so, ^m this great One has been breathed out know-
ledge ; everything has come' out of Him. He breathed
out, as it were, all knowledge. As to all water, the one
goal is the ocean ; as to all touch, the skin is the one
centre ; as of dl smell, the nose is the one centre ; as
of all taste, the tongue is the one goal : as of all form,
the eyes are the one goal ; as of all sounds, the ears
are the one goal ; u of all thought, the mind is the one
goal ; as of all knowledge, the heart is the <me goal :
as of all work, the hands are the one goal ; as a mmsel of

YAJNAVALKVA AND MAITtUBYI

419

salt put into the sea-water melts away, and we cannot take
it bade, even so, Maitreyi, Is this Universal Being eternally
infinite ; all knowledge is in Him. The whole universe
rises from Him, and again goes down into Him. No more
is there any knowledge, dying, or death.** We get the idea
that we have all come just like sparks from Him, and
when you know Him, then you go back and become one
with Him s^in. We are the Universal.

Maitreyi became frightened, just as everywhere people
become frightened. Said she, “Sir, here is exactly where
you have thrown a delusion over me. You have frightened
me by saying there will be no more gods ; all individuality
will be lost. There will be no one to recognise, no one
to love, no one to hate. What will become of us ?’*
"Maitreyi, I do not mean to puzde you, or rather let it
rest here. You may be frightened. Where there are two,
one sees another, one hears another, one welcomes anoth-
er, (me thinks of another, one knows another. But when
the whole has become that Atman, who is seen by whom,
who is to be heard by whom, who is to be welcomed by
whom, who is to be known by whom ?** That one idea
was taken up by Schopenhauer and echoed in his
philosophy. Through whom we know this universe,
through what to know Him ? How to know the knower ?
By what means can we know the knower ? How can that
be ? Because in and throu^ that we know everything.
By what means can we know Him ? By no means, for
He is that means.

So far the idea is that it is all One Infinite Being. That
is the real individuality, when there is no more division,
and no more parts ; these little ideas are very low, illusive.
But yet in and through every spark of the individuality is
shining that Infinite. Everything is a manifestation of the
Atman. How to reach that? First you make the state-
ment, just as Yajnavalkya himself tells us: *This Atman
is first to be heard of.** So he stated the case ; then he

420

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WOULS

argued it out, and the last deoKHistration was how to>
know That, through which all knowledge is possible.
Then, last, it is to be meditated up<m. He takes the
contrast, the microcosm and the macrocosm, and shows
how they are rolling on in particular lines, and how it is
all beautiful. "This earth is so Idissful, so hdpful to
every being ; and all beings are so helpful to this earth:
all these are manifestations of that Self-effulgent One, the
Atman.” All that is bliss, even in the lowest sense, is
but the reflection of Him. All that is good is His reflec-
tion, and when that reflection is a shadow it is called evil.
There are no two Gods. When He is less manifested,
it is called darkness, evil ; and when He is more mani-
fested, it is called light. That is all. Good and evil are
only a question of degree: more manifested or less mani-
fested. Just take the example of our own lives. How
many things we see in our childhood which we think to
be good, but which really are evil, and how many things
seem to be evil which are good! How the ideas changel
How an idea goes up and up I What we thought very
good at one time we do ttot think so good now. So good
and evil are but superstitions, and do not exist. The
difference is only in degree. It is all a manifestation of
that Atman ; He is being manifested in everything ; only,
when the manifestation is very thick we call it evil ; and
when it is very thin, we call it good. It is the best, when
all cov/sring goes away. So everything that is in . the
universe is to be meditated upon in that sense alone,
that we can see it as all good, because it is the best.
There is evil and there is good ; and the apex, the centre,
is the Reality. He is neither eivil nor good ; He is the
best The best can be only one, the good can be many
and the evil many. There will be degrees of. variation
between the good and the evil, but the best is only one,
and that best, when seen through thin coverings, we call
different sorts of good, and when throi^h thick covers, we

YAJNAVALKYA AND MAITREYI 421

call «vil.> Good and evil are different forms (ff supersti*
tion. They have gone through all sorts of dualistic
delusion and all sorts of ideas, and the words have sunk,
into the hearts of human beings, terrorising men and
women and living there as terrible tyrants. They make us
becmne tigers. All the hatred with which we hate others
is caused by these foolish ideas which we have imbibed
since our childhood — good and evil. Our judgment of
humanity becomes entirely false ; we make this beautiful
earth a hell ; but as soon as we can give up good and evil,
it becomes a heaven.

“This earth is blissful (‘sweet’ is the literal tranda-
tion) to all beings and all beings are sweet to this earth ;
they all help each other. And all the sweetness is the
Atman, that effulgent, immortal One who is inside this
earth.” Whose is this sweetness ? How can there be any
sweetness but He ? That one sweetness is manifesting itself
in various ways. Wherever there is any love, any sweet-
ness in any human being, either in a saint or a sinner,
either in an angel or a murderer, either in the body, mind,
or the senses, it is He. Physical enjoyments are but He,
mental enjoyments are but He, spiritual enjoyments are
but He. How can there be anything but He ? How can
there be twenty Uiousand gods and devils fighting with
each other ? Childidi dreams! Whatever is the lowest
physical enjoyment is He, and the higjiest spiritual enjoy-
ment is He. There is no sweetness *but He. Thus says
Yajnavalkya. When you come to that state and look upon
all things with the same eye, when you see even in the
drunkard’s pleasure in driitk only that sweetness, then you
have got the truth, and then alone you will know what
happiness means, what peace means, what love means ;
and so long as you make these vain distinctions, silly,
childish, foolish superstitions, all sorts of misery will come.
But that immortal One, . the effulgent One, He is inside
the earth, it is all His sweetness, and the same sweetness is

422

SWAMl V1VEKANANDA*S WOlUES

in the body. This body is the earth, as it were, and'inside
all the powers of the body, all the enjoyments of the body,
is He ,* the eyes see, the skin touches ; what are aU these
enjoyments ? That Self-eSulgent One who is in the body.
He is the Atman. This world, so sweet to all beings,
and every being so sweet to it, is but the Self-^lgent ;
the Immortal is the bliss in that world. In us also, He is
that bliss. He is the Brahman. “This air is so sweet to
all beings, and all beings are so sweet to it. But He who
is that Self-effulgent ImmOTtal Being in the air— is also in
this body. He is expressing Himself as the life of all
beings. This sun is so sweet to all beings. All beings
are so sweet to this sun. He who is the Self-effulgent
Being in the sun, we reflect Him as the smaller light.
What can be there but His reflection ? He is in the body,
and it is His reflection which makes us see the light.
This moon is so sweet lo all, and every one is so sweet
to the moon, but that Self-effulgent and Immortal One
who is the soul of that moon. He is in us expressing
Himself as mind. This lightning is so beautiful, every
one is so sweet to the lightning, but the Self-effulgent
and Immortal One is the soul of this lightning, and is also
in us, because all is that Brahman. The Atman, the Self,
is the king of all beings." These ideas are very helpful
to men ; they are for meditation. For instance, meditate
on the earth : think of the earth and at the same time
know that we have That which is in the earth, that both
are the same. Identify the body with the earth, and
identify the soul with the Soul behind. Identify the air
with the soul that is in the air and that is in me. They
are aU one, manifested in different forms. To realise this
unity is the end and aim of all meditation, and this is
what Yajnavalkya was trying to explain to Maitreyi.

SOUL, NATURE, AND GOD

According W the Vedanta philosophy, man consists of
three substances, so to say. The outermost is the body,
the gross farm of man, in which are the instruments of
sensation, such as the eyes, nose, ears, and so fmrth. Hiis
eye is not the organ of vision ; it is only the instrument.
Behind that is the organ. So, the ears are not the organs
of hearing ; they are the instruments, and behind them is
the organ, or what, in modem physiology, is called the
centre. The organs are called Indriyas in Sandu'it, VL the
centre which governs the eyes be destroyed, the eyes will
not see : so with all our senses. The organs , again,
cannot sense anything by themselves, until there be some*
thing else attached to them. That something is the mind.
Many times 70U have observed that you were deeply
engaged in a certain thought, and the clock struck and you
did not hear it. Why ? The ear was there ; vibrations
entered it and were carried into the brain, yet you did not
hear, because the mind was not joined to the organ. The
impressions of external objects are carried to the organs,
and when the mind is attached to them, it takes the
impressions and gives them, as it were, a odouring, which
is called egoism, “I”. Take the case of a mosquito biting
me on the finger when I am engaged in some work. I do
not feel it, because my mind is joined to something dse.
Later, when my mind is joined to the impression conveyed
to the Indnyas, a reaction comes. With this reaction I
become conscious of the mosquito. So even the mind
joining itself to the organs is not sufficient; there must
come the reaction in the form of will. This foculty from
which the reaction comes, the faculty of knowledge or
intellect, is called "Buddhi” First, there must be the
external instrument, next the organ, next the mind must

424 SWAMl VIV£KANANDA’S WORKS

join itself to the oigan, then must come the reaction of die ‘
intellect, and when all these things are complete, there
immediately flashes the idea, "I and the external object",
and there is a perception, a concept, knowledge. The
external organ, which is only the instrument, is in the
body, and behind that is the internal organ which is finer;
then there is the mind, then the intellectual faculty, then
egoism, which says, — I see, I hear, and so forth. The

whole process is carried on by certain forces ; you may
call them vital forces ; in Sanskrit they are called Piina.
Tills gross part of man, this body, in which are the
external instruments, is called in Sanskrit, Sthula Shanra,
the gross body ; behind it comes the series, beginning
with the organs, the mind, the intellect, the egoism.
These and the vital forces form a compound which is
called the fine body, the Sukshma Sharira. These forces
are composed of very fine elements, so fine that no amount
of injury to this body can destroy them ; they survive all
the shocks given to this body. The gross body we see is
composed of gross material, and as such it is always being
renewed and changing continuously. But the internal
organs, the mind, the intellect, and the egoism are com*
posed of the finest material, so fine that they will endure
for aeons and aeons. They are so fine that they cannot be
resisted by anything; they can get through any obstruc*
tion. The gross body is non-intelligent, so is the fine,
being tomposed of fine matter. Although one part is
called mind, another the intellect, and the third egoism,
yet we see at a glance that no one of them can be the
"Knower". None of them can be the perceiver, the
witness, the one for whom action is made, and who is the
seer of the action. All these movements in the mind, or
the faculty of intellection, or egoism, must be for some one
else. These being composed of fine matter cannot be
self-effulgent. Their luminosity cannot be in tbmsdves.
This manifestation of the table, for instance, cannbt be

soOl. nature, and god

425

due to any mataial thing. Therefore there must be some
one bdiind them all, who is the real manifester, the real
seer, the real enjoyer and He in Sanskrit is called the
Atman, the Soul of man, the real Self of man. He it is
who really sees things. The external instruments and the
organs catch the impressions and convey them to the
mind, and the mind to the intellect, and the intellect
reflects them as on a mirror, and back of it is the Soul that
looks on them and gives His orders and His directions.
He is the ruler of all these instruments, the master in the
house, the enthroned king in the body. The faculty of
egoism, the faculty of intellection, the faculty of cogitation,
the organs, the instruments, the body, all of them obey
His commands. It is He who is manifesting all of these.
This is the Atman of man. Similarly, we can see that
what is in a small part of the universe must also be in the
whole universe. If conformity is the law of the univene,
every part of the universe must have been built on the
same plan as the whole. So we naturally think that
behind the gross material form which we call this universe
of ours, these must be a universe of finer matter, which
we call thought, and behind that there must be a Soul,
which makes all this thought possible, which commands,
which is the enthroned king of this universe. That soul
which is behind each mind and each body is called
PratyagHtman, the individual Atm^n, and that Soul
which is behind the universe as its guide, ruler, and
governor, is God.

The next thing to consider is whence all these things
come. The answer is: What is meant by coming ? If it
means that something can be produced out of nothing, it
is impossible. All this creation, manifestation, cannot be
produced out of zero. Nothii^ can be produced without
a cause, and the effect is but the cause reproduced. Here
is a ^ass. Suj^>08e we break it to pieces, and pulverise
it, and by means tff diemicals almost annihilate it. 'Vnil

426

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

it go back to zero ? Certainly not. llie form wfll Ineak,'
but the partides of which it is made will be there ; they
will go beyond our senses, but they renuun, and it k quite
possible that out of these materials another gjlass may be
made. If this is true in one case, it will be so in every
case. Something cannot be made out of nothing. Nor
can something be made to go back to nothing. It may
become finer and finer, and then again grosser and grosser.
The raindrop is drawn from the ocean in the form of
vapour, and drifts away through the air to the mountains ;
there it changes again into water and flows back through
hundreds of miles down to the mother ocean. The seed
produces the tree. The tree dies, leaving only the seed.
Again it comes up as another tree, which again ends in the
seed, and so on. look at a bird, how from the egg it
springs, becomes a beautiful bird, lives its life and then
dies, leaving only other eggs, containing germs of future
birds. So with the animals; so with men. Everything
begins, as it were, from certain seeds, certain rudiments,
certain fine forms, and becomes grosser and grosser as it
develops ; and then again it goes back to t]}at fine form
and subsides. The whole universe is going on in this way.
There comes a time when this whole universe melts down
and becomes finer and at last disappears entirdy, as it
were, but remains as superfine matter. We know through
modern science and astronomy that this earth is cooling
down,' and in course of time it will become very cold,
and then it will break to pieces and become finer and
finer until it becomes ether once mote. Yet the partides
will all remain to form the material out of whidi another
earth will be projected. Again that will disappesur, and
anothw will come out. So this universe will go back to
its causes, and again its materials will come together and
take form, like the wave that goes down, rises again,
and takes shape. The acts of going back to causes and
coming out again, taking fcmn, are called in Sanskrit

SOUL, NATURE. AND GOD

m

Saakodia and VikdAa, whidi mean shrinking and
expandiii^. The whole oniven^ as it weie, shrinlu, and
then it expands again. To use the mote accepted words of
modem science, they me involved and evolved. You hem
about evolution, how all forms grow from lower ones,
slowly growing .up and up. This is very true, but each
evolution presupposes an involution. We know that the
sum total of energy diiat is displayed in the universe is
the same at all times, and that matter is indestructible.
By no means can you take away one particle of matter.
You cannot take away a foot-pound of eneigy or add one.
The sum total is the same always. Only the manifestation
varies, being involved and ev^ved. So this cycle is the
evolution out of the involution of the previous cycle, and
this cycle will again be involved, getting finer and finer,
and out of that will come the next cycle. .The whole
universe is going on in this fashion. Thus we find* that
there is no creation in the sense that something is created
out of nothing. To use a- better word, there is manifesta-
tion, and God is the manifestef . the universe. The
universe, as it were, is being breath^ out of Him, and
again it shrinks into Him, and again He throws it out. A
most beautiful simile is given in the Vedas — "That eternal
One breathes out this universe and breathes it in." Just as
we can breathe out a little pmtide of dust and. breathe it
in again. . That is all very good, but the question may be
asked: How was it at the fint cyde? The answer is: Whm
is the meaning of a first cyde ? There was none. If you
can give a banning to time, the whole concept of time
will be destroyed. Try to think of a limit where time
began, you have to think of time beytmd' that limit. Try
to think wboe space begins, you will have to think of
space beyond that. Time and q»ace are infinite, and
therefore have neither begiiming nor end. This is a better
idea than that God oreated the universe in five minutes
and then went to deqp, tmd rince then has been sleeping.

Il-t»

428

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

On the other hand, this idea will give us God at the
Eternal Creator. Here is a series of waves rising and
falling, and God is directing this eternal process. At the
universe is without beginning and without end, so is God.
We see that it must necessarily be so, because if we say
there was a time when there was no creation, either in a
gross or a fine form, then there was no God, because God
is known to us as SiUuhi, the Witness of the universe.
When the universe did not exist, neither did He. (hie
concept follows the other. The idea the cause we get
frmn the idea of the effect, and if there is no eSect, there
will be no cause. It naturally follows that as the universe
is eternal, God is eternal.

The soul must also be eternal. Why ? In the fint
place we see that the soul is not matter. It is neither a
gross body, nor a fine body, which we call mind or
thought. It is neither a physical body, nor what in
Christianity is called a spiritual body. It is the gross body
and the spiritual body that are liable to change. The
gross body is liable to change almost every minute and
dies, but the spiritual body endures throu^ long periods,
until one becomes free, when it also falls away. When a
man becomes free, the spiritual body disperses. The gross
body disintegrates every time a man dies. The soul not
being made of any particles must be indestructible. What
do we mean by destruction ? Destruction is disintegration
of thb materials out of which anything is composed. If
this glass is broken into pieces, the materials will disinte*
grate, and that will he the destruction of the glass.
Disintegration of particles is what we mean by destruction.
It naturally follows that nothing that is not composed of
particles can be destroyed, can ever be disintegrated. ^
The soul is not composed of any materials. It is unity
indivisible. Therefore it must be indestructible. For the
same reasmu it must also be without any' beginning. So
the soul is without any beginning and aid.

SOUL. NATURE. AND GOD

. We have three entities. Here is nature which is
infinite, but changeful. The whole of nature is without
beginning and end, but within it are multifarious changes.
It is like a rivor that runs down to the sea for thousands of
years. It is the same river always, but it is changing every
minute, the particles of water are changing their position
constantly. Then there is God, unchangeable, th4 ruler ;
and there is the soul unchangeable as God, eternal but
under the ruler. One is the master, the other the servant,
and the third one is nature.

God being the cause of the proj^tion, the continu-
ance, and the dissolution of the universe, the cause must
be present to produce the effect. Not only so, the cause
becomes the effect. Glass is produced out of certain
materials and certain forces used by the manufacturer. In
the glass there are those forces plus the materials. The
forces used have become the force of adhesion, and if that
force goes, the glass will foil to pieces ; the materials also
are undoubtedly in the g^ass. Only their form is changed.
The cause has become the effect. Wherever you see an
effect you can always analyse it into a cause, the cause
manifests itself as the effect. It follows, if God is the
cause of the universe, and the universe is the effect, that
God has become the universe. If souls are the effect,
and God the cause, God has become the souls. Each
soul, therefore, is a part of God. ‘iAs from a mass of
fire an infinite number of sparks fly, even so from the
Eternal One all this universe of soub has come out.”

We have seen that there is the eternal God, and there
is eternal nature. And there is also an infinite number of
eternal souls. This is the first stage in religion, it is called
dualism, the st^ whmi man sees himsdf and God
etonally separate, when God is a separate entity by Him-
sdf and man is a separate entity by himself and nature
is a separate entity by itself. This is dualism, which holds
that the subject and die object are opposed to eadi other

450

SWAMI V1V£KANANDA*S WORKS

in everything. When man looks at nature, he is the sub-
ject and nature the object. He sees the dualism between
subject and object. When he looks at God, he sees God
as the object and himself as the sul^ect. They are entirely
separate. This is the dualism between man and God.
This is generally the first view of religion.

Thin comes another view which I have just shown to
you. Man begins to find out that if God is the cause of
the universe and the universe the effect, God Himself must
have become the universe and the souls, and he is but a
particle of which God is the whole. We are but little
beings, sparks of that mass of fire, and the whole universe
is a manifestation of God Himself. This is the next step.
In Sanskrit, it is called Vishishtidvaita. Just as I have
this body and this body covers the soul, and the soul is in
and through this body, so this whole universe of infinite
souls and nature forms, as it were, the body of God.
When the period of involution comes, the universe
becomes finer and finer, yet remains the body of God.
When the gross manifestation comes, then also the
universe remains the body of God. Just as the human soul
is the soul of the human body and milld, so God is the
Soul of our souls. All of you have heard this expression
in every religion, "Soul of our souls”. That is what is
meant by it. He, as it were, resides in them, guides them,
IS the ruler of them all. In the first view, that of dualism,
each one of us is an individual, eternally separate from
God and nature. In the second view, we are individuals,
but not separate from God. We are like little particles
floating in one mass, and that mass is Qod. We are
individuals but one in God. We are ail in Him, We are
all parts of Him, and therefore we are One. And yet
between man and man, man and God, there is a strict
individuality, separate and yet not separate.

Then comes a stiU finer question. The question is:
Can infinity have parts ? What is meant by parts of

SOUL, NATURE. AND GOD

4SI

infinity ? If you leason it out, you will find that it ia
impossible. Infinity cannot be divided, it always remains
infinite. If it could be divided, eadi part would be infinite.
And there cannot be two infinites. Suppose there were,
one would limit the other, and both would be finite.
Infinity can only be one, undivided. Thus the conclusion
will be reached that the infinite is one and not many, and
that one Infinite Soul is reflecting itself through thousands
and thousands mirrors, appearing as so many different
souls. It is the same Infinite Soul, which is the background
of the universe, that we call God. The same Infinite Soul
also is the background of the human mind which we call
the human soul.

COSMOLOGY

There are two worlds, the microcosm, and the macro-
cosm, the internal and the external. We get truth from
both of these by means of experience. The truth gathered
from internal experience is psychology, metaphysics,
and religion ; from external experience, the physical
sciences. Now a perfect truth should be in harmony with
experiences in both these worlds. The microcosm must
bear testimony to the macrocosm, and the macrocosm to
the microcosm ; physical truth must have its counterpart
in the internal world, and the internal world must have
its verification outside. Yet, as a rule, we find that many
of these truths are in conflict. At one period of the
world's history, the internals become supreme, and they
begin to fight the externals. At the present time the exter-
nals, the physicists, have become supreme, and they have
put down many claims of psychologists and metaphysi-
cians. So far as my knowledge goes, I find that the real,
essential parts of psychology are in perfect accord with
She essential parts of modern physical knowledge. It is
not given to one individual to be great in every respect ;
it is not given to one race or nation to be equally strong
in the' research of all fields of knowledge. The modern
European nations are very strong in their research of
external physical knowledge, but they are not so strong
in their study of the inner nature of man. On the other
hand, the Orientals have not been very strong in their
researches of the external physical world, but very strong
in their researches of the internal. Therefore we find that
Oriental physics and other sciences are not in accordance
with Occidental Sciences; nor is Occidental psychology
in harmony with Orieni^ psychology. The Oriental

COSMOLOGY

4SS

physiciiti have been routed by Occidental scientists. At
the same time, each daims to rest on truth ; and as we
stated before, real truth in any field of knowledge will not
connradict itself ; the truths internal are in harmony with
die truths external.

We all know the theories of the cosmos according to
the modem astronomers and physicists ; and at the same
time we all know how woefully they undermine the
theology of Europe, how these scientific discoveries that
are made act as a bomb thrown at its stronghold ; and we
know how thedogians have in all times attempted to put
down these researches.

I want here to go over the psychological ideas of the
Orientals about cosmology and all that pertains to it, and
you will find how wonderfully they are in accordance with
the latest discoveries of modem science ; and* where there
is disharmony, you will- find that it is modem science
which lacks and not they. We all use the word nature.
The old Sinkhya philosophers called it by two different
names, Prakriti, which is very much the same as the word
nature, and the more scientific name, Avyakta, un-
differentiated, from which everything proceeds, such as
atoms, molecules, and forces, mind, thought, and intelli-
gence. It is startling to find that the philosophers and
metaphysicians of India stated ages ago that mind is
material. What are our present materialists trying to do,
but to show that mind is as much a product of nature as
the body ? And so is thought, and, we shall find by and
by, intelligence also: all issue from that nature which is
called Avyakta, the undifferentiated. The Sankhyas
define it as the equilibrium ot three fortes, one of which
is called Sattva, another Rajas, and the third Tamas.
Tamas, the lowest force, is that of attraction ; a little
higher is Rajas, that of repulsion -; and the highest is the
balance of these two, Sattva ; so that when these two
forces, attraction and repulsion, are held in perfect control

4S4

SWAMI VIVEKANAMDA’S WORSS

by the Sattva there is no creation, no movement in the
world. As soon as this equilibrium is lost, die balance li
disturbed, and one of these forces gets stronger than die
other, motion sets in, and creation begins. This state
of things goes on cyclically, periodically. That is to say,
there is a period of disturbance of the balance, when
forces begin to combine and recombine, and things project
outwards. At the same time, everything has a tendency
to go badL to the primal state of equilibrium, and the time
cmnes when that total annihilation of all manifestation is
reached. Again, after a period, the whole Uiing is dis-
turbed, projected outwards, and again it slowly goes down
— ^like waves. All motion, everything in this universe, can
be likened to waves undergoing successive rise and fall.
Some of these philosophers hold that the whole universe
quiets down for a period. Others hold that this quieting
down applies only to systems ; that is to say, that while
our system here, this solar system, will quiet down and
go back into the undifferentiated state, millions of other
systems will go the other way, and will project outwards.
I should rather favour the second opinion, that this quiet-
ing down is not simultaneous over the whole of the
universe, and that in different parts different things go on.
But the principle remains the same, that all we see—
that is, nature herself— is pretesting in successive rises
and falls. The one stage, falling down, going back to
balance, the perfect equilibrium, is called Pralaya, the end
of a cycle. The projection and the Pralaya of the universe
have been compared by theistical writers in India to the
outbreathing and inbreathing of God ; God. as it were,
breaUies out the universe, and it comes into Him again.
When it quiets down, what becennes of the universe ? It
exists, only in finer forms, in the form of cause, as it is
called in the Sankhya philosc^y. It does not get rid of
causation, time, and q>ace ; they are there, only it comes
to very fine and minute forms. Suppodl^ dut this whole

COSMOLC»Y

4BS

ttinvene begins to shrink, till every one of us beoMates just
a Uttte molecule, we riiould not fed the change at all,
because evoything relating to us would be shrinking at the
same time. The whde thing goes down, and again pro-
jects out, the cause Inringt out the effect, and so it goes on.

What we call matter in modern times was called by
the ancient psychologists Bhutas, the external elements.
There is one dement which, accmding to them, is eternal ;
every other dement is produced out of this one. It is
called Ak&sha. It is somewhat similar to the idea of ether
of the modems, though not exactly similar. Along with
this dement, there is the primal energy called Prina.
Prana and Akasha combine and recombine and form the
elements out of them. Then at the end of the Kalpa
everything subsides, and goes back to Akasha and Prana.
There is in the Rig-Veda, the oldest human writing in
existence, a beautiful passage describing creation, and it is
most poetical — ^“When there was ndther aught nor naught,
whm darkness was rolling over darkness, what existed ?’’
and the answer is given, "It then existed without vibra-
tion”. This Prana existed then, but there was no motion
in it ; Anidav&tam means "existed without vibration”.
Vibration had stopped. Then when the Ralpa begins,
after an immense interval, the Anidavatam (unvibrating
atom) commences to vibrate, and blow after blow is given
by Prana to Akasha. The atoms .become condensed,
and as they are condensed different elements are formed.
We generally find these things very curiously translated ;
people do not go to the philosophers or the commentators
for their translation, and have not the brains to understand
them themselves. A silly man reads three letters of
Sanskrit and trandates a whole book. They trandate the
elements as air, fire, and so on ; if they would go to the
Gcunmentators, they would find they do not mean air or
anything of the sort.

The Akasha, acted upon by the repeated blows of

4S6

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Prana, produces Vdyu or vibrations. This Vayu vibrata,
and the vibrations growing more and moK rapid lesidt in
friction giving rise to heat, Tejas. Then this heat ends in
liquefaction, Apah. Then that liquid becomes solid. We
had ether, and motion, then came heat, then it became
liquefied, and then it condensed into gross matter ; and it
goes back in exactly the reverse way. The scdid will be
liquefied and will then be converted into a mass of beat,
and that will slowly get back into motion ; that motion
will stop, and this Kalpa will be destroyed. Then, again it
will come back and again dissolve into ether. Prana cannot
work alone without the help of Akasha. All that we know
in the form of motion, vibration, or thought is a modifica-
tion of the Prana, and everything that we know in the
shape of matter, either as form or as resistance, is a
modification of the Akuha. The Prana cannot live alone,
or act without a medium ; when k is pure Prana, it has
the Akasha itself to live in, and when it changes into
forces of nature, say gravitation, or centrifugal force, it
must have matter. You have never seen force without
matter or matter wthout force ; what we call force and
matter are simply the gross manifestations of these same
things, which, when superfine, are called Prana and
Akasha. Prana you can call in English life, the vital
force : but you must not restrict it to the life of man ; at
the same time you must not identify it with Spirit, Atman.
So thfs goes on. Creation cannot have either a beginning
or an end ; it is an eternal on-going.

We shall state another position of these old psycholo-
gists, which is that all gross things are the results of fine
ones. Everything that is gross is composed of fine things,
whidi they call the Tanmdtras, the fim partides. 1 sradl
a flower. To smell, something must come in contact with
my nose; the flower is there, but I do not see it move
towards me. That whidi comes from the flower and in
contact with my nose is called the Tanmatra, fine mole-

COSMOLOGY

4S7

Otlei that flower. So with heat, light and everything.
These Tanmatras can again be subdivide into attnns.
Diffeient philosophers have different theories, and we
know dtese are only theories. It is sufficient fin our
. purpose to know that everything gross is composed of
things that are very, very fine. We first get the gross
elements which we feel externally, and then come the-
fine elements with which the nose, eyes, and ears come
in contact. Ether waves touch my eyes; I cannot see
them, yet 1 know they must come in contact with my
eyes before I can see light.

Here are the eyes, but the eyes do not see. Take
away the brain centre ; the eyes will still be there, as also
the picture of the outside world complete on the retinae ;
yet the eyes will not see. So the eyes are only a secondary
instrument, not the organ of vision. The organ of vision is
the nerve<entre in the brain. Likewise the nose is an
instrument, and there is an organ behind it. The senses
are simply the extemad instruments. It may be said that
these different organs, Indriyas, as they are called in
Sanskrit, are the real seats of perception.

It is necessary for the mind to be joined to an organ to
perceive. It is a common experience that we do not hear
the clock strike when we happen to be buried in study.
Why ? The ear was there, the sound was carried through
it to the brain ; yet it was not heard) because the mind
did not attach itself to the oigan of hearing.

There is a different organ for each different instrument.
For, if one served fof all, we should find that when the
mincb joined itself to it, all the senses would be equally
active. But it is not so, as we have seen from the instance
of the clock. If there was tmly one organ for all the
instruments, the mind would see and hear at the same
time, would see and hear and smell at the same time, and
it would be impossible for it not to do all these at one
and the same time. Therefore it is necessary that there

4S8

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S V/’ORKS

should be a separate organ for eadi sense. Hiis has
been borne out by modem physiology. It is certainty
possiUe for us to hear and see at the same time, but that
is because the mind attaches itself partially to the two
centres.

What are the organs made of? We see that the
instruments — eyes, nose, and ears — are . made of gross
materials. The organs are also made of matter. Just as
the body is composed of gross inaterials, and manufac-
tures Prana into difEerent gross forces, so the organs are
composed of the fine elements, Akasha, Vayu, Tejas, etc.,
and manufacture Prana into the finer forces of percep-
tion. The organs, the Prana functions, the mind and the
Buddhi combined, are called the finer body of man — ^the
Linga or Sukshma Sharira. The Linga Sharira has a real
form because everything material must have a form.

The mind is called the Manas, the China in Vritti or
vibrating, the unsettled state. If you throw a stone in a
lake, first there will be vibration, and then resistance. For
a ifaoment the water will vibrate and then it will react on
the stone. So when any impression comes on the Chitta,
it first vibrates a little. That is called the Manas. The
mind carries the impression farther in, and presents it to
the determinative faculty, Buddhi, which reacts. Behind
Buddhi is Ahamk&ra, egoism, the self-consciousness which
says, *T am". Behind Ahamkara is Mahat, intelligence,
the highest form of nature’s existence. Each one is the
effect of the succeeding one. In the case of the lake,
every blow that comes to it is from the external world,
while in the case of the mind, the blow may come either
from the external or the internal world. Behind the
intelligence is the Self of man, the Purusha, the Atman,
the pure, the perfect, who alone is the seer, and for whom
is all this change.

Man looks on all these changes ; he himself is never
impure ; but through what the Vedantists call Adhyfisa, by

COSMOIjOGY

4t»

reftecticm, by iQi|4ication, he seems to be impure. It is like
the appearance of a crystal when a red or a blue flower is
brought before it: the colour is reflected on it, but the
crystal itself is pure. We shall take it for granted that
there are many selves, and each self is pure and perfect ;
various kinds of gross and fine matter superimpose them-
selves on the self and make it multicoloured. Why does
nature do all this? Nature is undergoing all these changes
for the devdopment of the soul : all this creation is for the
benefit of the soul, .so that it may be free. This immense
book which we call the universe is stretched out before
man so that he may read : and he discovers eventually
that he is an omniscient and mnnipotent being. I must
here tell you that some of our best psychologisu do not
believe in God in the sense in which you believe in Him.
The father of our psychology. Kapila, denies the existence
of God. His idea is that a Personal God is quite unneces-
sary; nature itself is sufiicient to work out the whole of
creation. What is called the Design Theory, he knocked
on the he^, and said that a more childish theory hras
never advanced. But he admits a peculiar kind of God.
He says we are all struggling to get free ; and when we
become free, we can, as it were, melt away into nature,
only to come out at the beginning of the next cycle and
be its ruler. We come out omniscient and omnipotent
beings. In that sense we can be called Gods ; you and
T and the humblest beings can be Gods in different cycles.
He says such a God will be temporal ; but an eternal
God. eternally omnipotent and ruler of the universe, can-
not be. If there was such a God, there would be this
difficulty: He must be either a bound spirit or a &ee
one. A God who is perfectly free would not create ;
there is no necessity for it. . If He were bound. He would
not create, because He could not: He would be power-
less, In either case, there cannot be any omniscient or
omnipotent eternal nilo*. In our scriptures, wherever the

440

SWAMI VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

word God is mentioned, he says, it means those human
beings who have become free.

Kapila does not believe in the unity of all souls. His
analysis, so far as it goes, is simply marvellous. He is the
father of Indian thinkers; Buddhism and other systems
are the outcome of his thought.

According to his psychology, all souls can regain their
freedom and their natural rights, which are omnipotence
and omniscience. But the question arises: Where is this
bondage? Kapila says it is without beginning. But if it
is without beginning, it must be without end, and we
shall never be free. He says that though bondage is
without beginning, it is not of that constant uniform
character as the soul is. In other words, nature (the
cause of bondage) is without beginning and end, but not
in the same sense as soul, because nature has no indi-
viduality : it is like a river which gets a fresh body of
water every moment ; the sum total of these bodies of
water is the river, but the river is not a constant quantity.
Everything in nature is constantly changing, but the soul
never changes ; so, as nature is always changing, it is
possible for the soul to come out of its bondage.

The whole of the universe is built upon the same
plan as a part of it. So, just as I have a mind, there is a
cosmic mind. As in the individual, so in the universal.
There is the universal gross body ; behind that, a universal
fine body ; behind that, a universal mind ; behind that, a
universal egoism, or consciousness ; and behind that, a
universal intelligence. And all this is in nature, the
manifestation of nature, not outside of it.

We have the gross bodies from our parents, as also
our consciousness. Strict heredity says my body is a part
of my parents’ bodies, the material of my consdousness
and egmsm is a part of my parents'. We can add to the
little portion inherited from our parents by drawing upon
the universal consciousness. There is an infinite store*

COSMOLOGY

441

house of intdligence out of which we draw what we
require ; there is an infinite storehouse of mental force in
the universe out of which we are drawing eternally ; but
the seed must come from the parents. Our theory is
heredity coupled with reincarnation. By the law of
heredity, the reincarnating soul receives from parents the
material out of which to manufacture a man.

Some of the European philosophers have asserted that
this world exists because I exist; and if I do not exist,
the world will not exist. Sometimes it is stated thus: If
all the people in the world were to die, and there were no
more human beings, and no animals with powers of per-
ception and intelligence, all these manifestations would
disappear. But these European philosophers do not know
the psychology of it, although they know the principle ;
modem philosophy has got only a glimpse of it. litis
becomes easy of undentanding when looked at from the
Sankhya point of view. According to Sankhya, it is im-
possible for anything to be, which has not as its material
some portion of my mind. I do not know this table
as it is. An impression from it comes to the eyes, then to
the Indriya, and then to the mind ; and the mind reacts,
and that reaction is what 1 call the table. It is just
the same as throwing a stone in a lake ; the lake throws
a wave towards the stone ; this wave is what we know.
What is external nobody knows ; when I try to know
it, it has to become that material which I furnish. I,
with my own mind, have furnished the material for my
eyes. There is something which is outside, which is only
the occasion, the suggestion, and upon that suggestion
I project my mind ; and it takes the form that I see. How
do we all see the same things? Because we all have
similar parts dl -the cosmic mind. Hiose who have like
minds will see like things, and those who have not will
not see alike.

A STUDY OF THE SANKHYA
PHILOSOPHY

Prakriti is called by the S&nkhya philosophers indis-
crete, and defined as the perfect balance of the materials
in it ; and it naturally follows that in perfect balance there
cannot be any moticm. In the primal state before any
manifestation, when there was no motion but perfect
balance, this Prakriti was indestructible, because decom-
position or death comes from instability or change. Again,
according to the Sankhya, atoms are not the primal state.
This universe does not come out of atoms: they may be
the secondary or the tertiary state. The primordial
material may form into atoms and become grosser and
bigger things ; and as far as modem investigations go,
they rather point towards the same conclusion. For
instance, in the modem theory of ether, if you say ether
is atomic, it will not solve anything. To make it clearer,
say that air is composed of atoms, and we kfaow that ether
is everywhere, inteipenetrating, omnipresent, and that
these air atoms are floating, as it were, in ether. If ether
again be composed of atoms, there will still be spaces
between every two atoms of ether. What fills up these?
If you suppose that there is another ether still finer which
does this, there will again be other spaces between the
atoms of that finer ether which require filling up, and so
it will be regressus ad infinitum, what the Sankhya philoso-
phers call the "cause leading to nothihg” So the atomic
theory cannot be final. According to Sankhya, nature is
onmipiresent, one omnipresent mass of nature, in which
are the causes of everything that exists. What is meant
by cause? Cause is the fine state the manifested

state; the unmanifested state of that vdiidt becomes
mahifested. What do you mean by destruction ? It

A STUDY OF THE SANKHYA PrilLOSOPHy ' 40

is leveiting to the cause. If you have a piece of pottery
and ^ve it a Uow, it is destroyed. What is meant by
this is that the effects go back to their own nature, the
materials out of which the pottery was created go bade,
into their miginal state.. Beyond this idea ot destruction,
any idea such as annihilation is on the face of it absurd.
Atxording to modem physical science, it can be
demonstrated diat all destraction means that which Kapila
said ages ago— simply revertii^ to the cause. Going back to
the finer form is all that is meant by destruction. You know
how it can be demonstrated in a laboratory that matter
is indestructible. At this present stage of our knowledge,
if any man stands up and says that matter or this soul
becomes annihilated, he is only making himself
ridiculous ; it is only uneducated, silly people who would
advance such a proposition ; and it is curious that modem
knowledge coitmides with what those old philosophers
taught. It must be so, and that is the proof of trath.
They proceeded in their inquiry, taking up mind as the
basis; they analysed the tnenul part of this universe
and came to certain conclusions, which we, analysing the
physical part, must come to, for they both must lead to
the same centre.

You .must remember that the first manifestation of this
Prakriti in the cosmos is vdrat the Sankhya calls “Mahat”.
We may call it intelligence — the great principle, its literal
meaning. The first change in Prakriti is this intelligence ;
I would not translate it by self-consciousness, because that
would be wrong. Consciousness is only a part of this
intelligence. Mahat is universal. It covers all the grounds
of subconsciousness, coiudoumess, and super-conscious-
ness ; so any one sute at consciousness, as applied to this
Mahat, would not be sufficient. In nature, for instance,
you note certain changes gtung on before your eyes which
you see and understand, but diere are other changes, so
much finer, that no human perception can catdr them.

II— »

444

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

They are from the same cause, the same Mahat is making
these changes. Out of Mahat comes universal ^ism.
These are all substance. There is no difference between
matter and mind, except in degree. The substance is the
same in finer or grosser form ; one changes into the other,
and this exactly coincides with the condusions of modem
physiological research. By believing in the teaching that
the mind is not separate from the brain, you will be saved
from much fighting and struggling. Egoism again changes
into two varieties. In one variety it changes into the
organs. Organs are of two kinds, organs of sensation and
organs of reaction. They are not the eyes or the ears,
but back of those are what you call brain-centres, and
nerve-centres, and so on. This egoism, this matter or
substance, becomes changed, and out of this material are
manufactured these centres. Of the same substance is
manufactured the other variety, the Tanmatras, fine
partides of matter, which strike our organs of perception
and bring about sensations. You cannot perceive them
but only know they are there. Out of the Tanmatras is
manufactured the gross matter — earth, water, and all the
things that we see and fed. I want to impress tbit on
your mind. It is very hard to grasp it, because in Western
countries the ideas are so queer about mind and matter.
It is hard to get those impressions out of our brains. I
myself had a tremendous difficulty, being educated in
Western philosophy in my boyhood. These are all cosmic
things. Think of this universal extension of matter, un-
broken, one substance, undifferentiated, which is the first
state of everything, and which begins to change in the
same way as milk becomes curd. This first, change is
cai^ Mahat* subsunce Mahat changes into the
matter called egoism. The third, change is
manifested as universal sense-organs, and universal fine
partides, and these' last again ctnnbine and become, this
gross universe which with eyes, nose, and ears, we see.

I A STUDY OF THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY 445

nneU, and hear. This is the cosmic plan according to the
Sankhya, and what is in the cosmos must also be micro-
cosmic, Take an individual ^an. He has first a part of
undifferentiated nature in him, and that material nature
in him becomes changed into this Mahat, a small particle
of this universal intelligence, and this particle of universal
intelligence in him becomes changed into egoism, and then
into the sense-organs and the fine particles of matter which
combine and manufacture his body. I want this to be
clear, because it is the stepping-stone to Sankhya, and it
is absolutely ^ecessary for you to understand it, because
this is the basis of the philosophy of the whole world.
There is no philosophy in the world that is not indebted
to Kapila. Pythagoras came to India and studied this
philosophy, and that was the beginning of the philosophy
of the Greeks. Later, it formed the Alexandrian school,
and still later, the Gnostic. It became divided into two ;
one part went to Europe and Alexandria, and the other
remained in India ; and out of this, the system of Vy&sa
was developed. The Sankhya philosophy of Kapila was
the first rational system that the world ever saw. Every
metaphysician in the world must pay homage to him. I
want to impress on your mind that we are bound to listen
to him as the great father of philosophy. This wonderful
man, the most ancient of philosophers, is nuntioned even
in the Shruti: “O Lord, Thou who produced the sage
Kapila in the beginning.” How wonderful his perceptions
were, and if there is any proof required of the extraordi-
nary power of the perception of Yogis, such men are the
proof. They had no microscopes or telescopes. Yet
how fine their perception was, how perfect and wonderful
their analysis of things I

I will here point out the difference between Schopen-
hauer and the Indian philosophy. Schopenhauer says
that desire, or will, is the cause of everything. It is the
will to exist that makes us manifest, but we deny this.

m

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

The will is identical with the motor nerves. When 1 see an
object there is no will ; when its sensations are carried to
the brain, thore comes the reaction, which says “Do this*’,
or "Do not do this", and this state o( the ^[oeubstanoe is
what is called will. There cannot be a single partide of
will which is not a reaction. So many things precede wilL
It is only a manufactured something out of the ego, and'
the ego is a manufacture of something still higher — the
intelligence — and that again is a modification of the indis-
crete nature. That was the Buddhistic idea, that what-
ever we see is the will. It is psychologically entirely
wrong, because will can only be identified with the motor
nerves. If you take out the motor nerves, a man has no
will whatever. This fact, as is perhaps well known to
you, has been iound out after a long series of experiments
made with the lower animals.

We will take up this question. It is very important
to understand this question of Mahat in man, the great
principle, the intelligence. This intelligence itself is modi-
fied into what we call egoism, and this intelligence is the
cause of all the powers in the body. It covers the whole
ground, sub-consciousness, consciousness, and super-con-
sciousness. What are these three states ? The sub-con-
scious state we find in animals, which we call instinct.
This is almost infallible, but very limited. Instinct rarely
fails. An animal almost instinctively knows a poisonous
herb from an edible one, but its instinct is very limited. As
soon as something new comes, it is blind. It works like
a machine. Then comes a higher state of knowledge
which is fallible and makes mistakes often, but has a
larger scope, although it is slow, and this you -call reason.
It 4 much larger than instinct, but instinct is surer than
re»to. There are more chances of mistakes in reasoning
than in instinct. There is a still higher state of the mind,
the super-conscious, which belongs only to Yogis, to men
who have cultivated it. This is infallible and much more

A STUDY OF THE SAKKHYA PHILOSOPHY

447

uBlifloited in its scope than reascm. This is the hi^^iest
state; So we must remember, this Mahat is the leal cause
ah that is here, that which manifests itsdlf in various
ways, covers the whole ground of sub-conscious, <»n<
scious, and super-conscious, the three states in which
knowledge exists.

Now comes a delicate question which is being always
asked. If a perfect God created the universe, why is
there imperfection in it ? What we call the universe is
what we see, and that is only this little plane of con-
sciousness and reason ; beyond that we do not see at all.
Now the very question is an impossible one. If I take
only a small portion out of a mass of something and look
at it, it seems to be inharmonious. Naturally. The universe
is inharmonious because we make it so. How ? What is
reason ? What is knowledge ? Knowledge is finding the
association about things. You go into the street and see
a man and say, I know this is a man ; because you re-
member the impressions on your mind, the marks on the
Chitta. You have seen many men, and each one has
made an impression on your mind ; and as you see this
man, you refer this to your store and see many similar
pictures there ; and when you see them, you are satisfied,
and you put this new one with the rest. When a new
impression comes and it has associations in your mind,
you are satisfied ; and this state of association is called
knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, 'pigeon-holing one
experience with the already existing fund of experience,
and this is one of the great proofs of the fact that you
cannot have any knowledge until you have already a fund
in . eidstence. If you are without experience, as some
European philosopdiers think, and that your mind is a
tabula rasa to b^n with, you cannot get any know-
ledge, because the very fact of knowledge is the recogni-
tion of the new by means of associations already existing
in the mind. There must be a store at hand to whkh u>

448

SWAM! VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

refer a new impression. Suppose a child is born into this
world without such a fund, it would be impossible for him
ever to get any knowledge. Therefore, the child must
have been previously in a state in which he had a fund,
and so knowledge is eternally increasing. Show me a
way of getting round this argument. It is a mathematical
fact. Some Western schools of philosophy also hold that
there cannot be any knowledge without a fund of past
knowledge. They have framed the idea that the child is
born with knowledge. These Western philosophen say
that the impressions with which the child comes into the
world are not due to the child’s past, but to the experi-
ences of his forefathers: it is only hereditary transmission.
Soon they will And out that this idea is all wrong ; some
German philosophers are now giving hard blows to these
heredity ideas. Heredity is very good, but incomplete, it
only explains the physical side. How do you explain the
environments influencing us ? Many causes produce one
effect. Environment is one of the modifying effects. We
make our own environment ; as our past is, so we find the
present environment, A drunken man naturally gravitates
to the lowest slums of the city.

You undentand what is meant by knowledge.
Knowledge is pigeon-holing a new impression with old
ones, recognising a new impression. What is meant by
recognition ? Finding associations with similar impressions
that one already has. Nothing further is meant by know-
ledge. If that is the case, if knowledge means finding the
associations, then it must be that to know anything we
have to sec the whole series of its similars. Is it not so ?
Suppose you take a pebble ; to find the association, you
have to see the w'hole series of pebbles similar to it.
But with our perception of the universe as a whole we
cannot do that, because in the pigeon-hole of our mind
there is only one single recotxl of the perception, we. have
no other perception of the same nature or class, we

A STUDY OF THE SANKHYA PHILOSOPHY

449

caitnot compare it with any other. We catmot refer it'
to its associations. This bit oi the universe, cut off by
our consciousness, is a startling new thing, because we
have not been able to find its associations. Therefore,
we are struggling with it, and thinking it horrible, wicked,
and bad ; we may sometimes think it is good, but we
always think it is imperfect. It is only when we find its
associations that the universe can be known. We shall
recognise it when we go beyond the universe and con-
sciousness, and then the universe will stand explained.
Until we can do that, all the knocking of our heads
against a wall will never explain the universe, because
knowledge is the finding of similars, and this conscious
plane only gives us one sin^e perception of it. So with
our idea of God. All that we see of God is only a part,
just as we see only one portion of the universe, and all
the rest is beyond human cognition. “I, the universal ;
so great am I that even this universe is but a part of Me.”
That is why we see God as imperfect, and do not under-
stand Him. The only way to understand Him and the
universe is to go beyond reason, beyond consciousness.
“When thou goest beyond the heard and the hearing, the
thought and the thinking, then alone wilt thou come to
Truth.” “Go thou beyond the scriptures, because they
teach only up to nature, up to the three qualities.” When
we go beyrnid them, we find the harmony, and not before.

The microcosm and the macrocosiA are built on exact-
ly the same plan, and in the microcosm we know only one
part, the middle part. We know neither the sub-con-
scious, nor the super<onscious. We know the conscious
only. If a man stands up and says, “I am a sinner”, he
makes an untrue statement because he does not know
himself. He is the most ignorant of men ; of himself he
knows only one part, because his knowledge covers only
a part of the ground he is on. So with this universe, it is
possible to know only a part of it with the reason, not

450

SWAMI VIVEKANANOA'S WORKS

the whole of it; for the sub-consdous, the cmiscioiM
and the super«Kudoiu, the individual Mahat and the
universal Mahat, and all the subsequent modifications,
constitute the universe.

What makes nature (Prakrit!) change ? We see so far
that everything, all Prakzid, is Jada, insentient. It is aU
compound and insentient. Wherever there is law, it is
proof that the region of its play is insentient. Mind, intelli*
gence, will, and everything else is insentient. But they
are all reflecting the sentiency, the "Chit” of some being
who is beyond all this, whom the Sankhya philosophers
call "Purusha”. The Purusha is the unwitting cause of
all the changes in the universe. That is to say, this
Purusha, taking Him in the universal sense, is the God of
the universe. It is said that the will of the Lord created
the universe. It is very good as a common expression,
but we see it cannot be true. How could it be will ?
Will is the third or fourth manifestation in nature. Many
things exist before it, and what crtated them ? Will is a
compound, and everything that is a compound is a product
of nature. Will, therefore, could not create nature. So,
to say that the will of the Lord created the universe is
meaningless. Our will only covers a little portion of self*
a,nsciousness and moves our brain. It is not will that is
working your body or that is working the universe. This
body is being moved by a power of which will is only a
manifestation in one part. Likewise in the universe there
is will, but that is only one part of the universe. The
whole the universe is not guided by will ; that is why
we cannot explain it by the will theory. Suppose I take
it for granted that it is will moving the body, then, when
I find I cannot work it at will, I begin to fret and fume.
It is shy fault, because I had no right to take the will th«ry
for granted. In the same way, if I take the universe and
think it is will that moves it and find things which do
not coincide, it is ray fault. So the Purusha is not will :

A STUOy Of THE SANKHITA PH1L0S<MPHY 4S1

neither can it be intdtigence. because intdUigence itself
is a confound. Ihere cannot be any intdligenoe without
some sort of matter corresponding to the bram. WheKver
there is intdligence, thete must be something akin to
that matter which we call brain which beccnnes lumped
together into a particular form and serves the purpose of
the brain. Wherever there is intelligence, there must be
that matter in some form or other. But intelligence itself
is a compound. What then is this Purusha ? It is neither
intelligence nor will, but it is the cause all diese. It
is its presence that sets them all going and ctunbining.
It does not mix with nature ; it is not intelligence, or
Mahat ; but the Self, the pure, is Purusha. “I am the
witness, and through my witnessing, nature is producing
all that is sentient and all that is insentient."

What is this sentiency in nature ? We find intelli*
gence is this sentiency which is called Chit. The basis of
sentiency is in the Purusha, it is the nature of Purusha.
It is that which cannot be explained but which is the
cause of all that we call knowledge. Purusha is not
consciousness, because consciousness is a compound ; but
whatever is light and good in consciousness belongs to
Purusha. Purusha is not conscious, but whatever is light
in intelligence belongs to Purusha. Sentiency is in the
Purusha, but the Purusha is not intelligent, not knowing.
The Chit in the Purusha plus Prakrit! is what we see
around us. Whatever is pleasure and happiness and light
in. the universe belongs to Purusha ; but it is a compound,
because it is Purusha plus Prakrit!. "Wherever there is
any happiness, wherever there is any bliss, there is a
spark of that immortality which is God.” "Purusha is the
great attraction of the universe ; though untouched by and
unconnected widi Ae universe, yet it attracts the whole
universe.” You see a man going after gold, because
behind it is a spark of the Purusha though mixed up with
a good deal of dirt. When a man loves his children or a

432

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

woman her husband, what is the attracting power ? A
spark of Purusha bdiind them. It is there, only mixed
up with “dirt”. Nothing else can attract. “In this world
of insentiency the Purusha alone is sentient.” This is
the Purusha of the Sankhya. As such, it necessarily
follows that the Purusha must be omnipresent. That
which is not omnipresent must be limited. All limitations
are caused ; that which is caused must have a beginning
and end. If the Purusha is limited, it will die, will not be
free, will not be final, but must have some cause. There-
fore it is omnipresent. According to Kapila, there are
many Purushas ; not one, but an infinite number of them.
You and I have each of us one, and so has everyone
else ; an infinite number of circles, each one infinite, run-
ning through this universe. The Purusha is neither mind
nor matter, the reflex from it is all that we know. We
are sure if it is omnipresent it has neither death nor birth.
Nature is casting her shadow upon it, the shadow of birth
and death, but it is by its nature pure. So far we have
found the philosophy of the Sankhya wonderful.

Next we shall take up the proofs against it. So far
the analysis is perfect, the psychology incontrovertible.
We find by the division of the senses into organs and
instruments that they are not simple, but compound ; by
dividing egoism into sense and matter, we find that this is
also material and that Mahat is also a state of matter, and
finally wcrfind the Purusha. So far there is no objection.
But if we ask the Sankhya the question, “Who created
nature ?” — ^the Sankhya says that the Purusha and the
Prakriti are uncreate and omnipresent, and that this
Purusha there is an infinite nornber. We shall have to
controvert these propositions, and find a better solution,
and by so doing we shall come to Advaitism. Our first
objection is, how can there be these two infinites? Then
our aigument will be that the Sankhya is not a perfect
generalisation, and that we have not found in it a perfect

A STUDY OF THE SANKHVA PHILOSOPHY

45S

solution. And tten wc shall see how the Vedantists grope
out of all these difficulties and readi a perfect solution^
and yet all the glory really belongs to the Sankhya. It
is very easy to give a finishing touch to a building when
it is constructed.

SANKHYA AND VEDANTA

I shall give you a r^um^ of the Sinkhya philosophyt
through which we have been going. We, in this lecture,
want to find where its defects are, and where Vedanta
comes in and supplements it. You must remember that
according to Sankhya philosophy, nature is the cause of
all these manifestations which we call thought, intellect,
reason, love, hatred, touch, taste, and matter. Every-
thing is from nature. This nature consists of three sorts
of elements, called Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. These are
not qualities, but elements, the materials out of which the
whole universe is evolved. In the beginning of a cycle
these remain in equUibrium ; and when creation comes,
they begin to combine and, recombine and manifest as
the universe. The first manifestation is what the Sankhya
calls the Mahat or Intelligence, and out of that comes
consciousness. According to Sankhya, this is an element
(Tattva). And out of consciousness are evolved Manas or
mind, the organs of the senses, and the Tanmdtras
(particles sound, touch, etc.). All the fine particles are
evolved from consciousness, and out of these fine partides
come the gross elements which we call matter. The
Tanmatras cannot be perceived ; but when they become
gross partifles, we can feel and sense them.

The Chitta, in its threefold function of intelligence,
consciousness, and mind, works and manufactures the
forces called Prdna. You must at once get rid of the idea
that Prana is breath. Breath is one effect of Prana. By
Prana are meant the nervous forces governing and moving
the whole body, which also manifest themselves as
thought. The foremost and most obvious manifestation
of Prana is the breathing motion. Prana acts upon air,
and not air upon it. Controlling the breathing motion is

SANKHYA AND VEDANTA

«S5

pr&niyima. Franayama is practised to get mastery over
this motion ; the end is not merely to ccmtrol the breath
or to midie the lungs strong. That is Delsarte, not
Pranayama. These Pranas are the vital forces which
manipulate the whole body, while they in their turn are
manipulated by other organs in the body, which are
called mind or internal organs. So far so good. The
psychology is very clear and most precise ; and yet it is
the oldest rational thought in the world! Wherever there
is any philosophy or rational thought, it owes something
or other to Kapila. Pythagoras learnt it in India, and
taught it in Greece. Later on Hato got an inkling of it ;
and still later the Gnostics carried the thought to
Alexandria, and from there it came to Europe. So
wherever there is any attempt at psychology or philosophy,
the great father of it is this man, Kapila. So far we see
.that his psychology is wonderful ; but we shall have to
differ with him on some points, as we go cm. We find
that the basic principle on which Kapila works, is evolu-
tion. He makes one thing evolve out of another, because
his very definition of causation is "the cause reproduced
in another foim/’ and because the whole universe, so far
as we see it, is progressive and evolving. We see day ;
in another form, we call it a pitcher. Clay was the cause
and the pitcher the effect. Beyond this we cannot have
any idea of causation. Thus this whole universe is
evolved out of a material, out of* Prakriti or nature.
Theiefore, the universe cannot be essentidly different
from its cause. According to Kapila, from undifferentiated
nature to thought or intellect, not one of them is what
he dills die "Enjoyer" or “Enlightener'’. Just as is a
lump of clay, so is a lump of mind. By itself the mind
has no light ; but we see it reasons. Therefore there
must be some one behind it, whose light is percolating'
through Mahat and consdousness, and subsequent modi-
fications, and this is what Kapila calls the Purudia, the

456

SWAMI VtVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Self of the Vedantin. According to Kapila, the Purusba
is a simple entity, not a compound ; he is immaterial, the
only one who is immaterial, and all these various rnani*
festations are material. I see a black-board. First, the
external instruments will bring that sensation to the nerve-
centre, to the Indriya according to Kapila ; from the
centre it will go to the mind and make an impression ; the
mind will present it to the Buddhi, but Buddhi cannot act;
the action comes, as it were, from the Purusha behind.
These, so to speak, are all his servants, bringing the
sensations to him, and he, as it were, gives the orders,
reacts, is the enjoyer, the perceiver, the real One, the
King on his throne, the Self 'of man, who is immaterial.
Because he is immaterial, it necessarily follows that he
must be infinite, he cannot have any limitation whatever.
Each one of the Purushas is omnipresent ; each one of us
is omnipresent, but we can act only through the Linga
Sharira, the fine body. The mind, the self-consciousness,
the oigans, and the vital forces compose the fine body or
sheath, what in Christian philosophy is called the spiritual
body of man. It is this body that gets salvation, or
punishment, or heaven, that incarnates and reincarnates,
because we see from the very beginning that the going
and the coming of the Purusha or soul are impossible.
Motion means going or coming, and what goes or comes
from one place to another cannot be omnipresent. Thus
far we see from Kapila’s psychology that the soul is
infinite, and that the soul is the only thing which is not
composed of nature. He is the only one that is outside
of nature, but he has got bound by nature, apparently.
Nature is around him, and he has identified himself with
it. He thinks, ‘T am the Linga %arira”, "1 am the
gross matter, the gross body”, and as such he enjoys
pleasure and pain, but they do not really- belong to him,
they belong to this Linga Sharira or the fine body.

The meditative state is called always the highest state

SANKHYA AND VEDANTA

457

by the Yogi, when it is neither a passive nor an active
state; in it you approach nearest to the Purusha. The
soul has neither pleasure nor pain ; it is the witness of
everything, the eternal witness of all work, but it takes
no fruits from any work. As the sun is the cause of sight
of every eye, but is not itself affected by any defects in the
eye or as when a crystal has red or blue flowers placed
before it, the crystal looks red or blue, and yet it is neither ;
so, the soul is neither passive nor active, it is beyond
both. The nearest way of expressing this state of the
soul is that it is meditation. This is Sankhya philosophy.

Next, Sankhya says, that the manifestation of nature
is for the soul ; all combinations are for some third person.
The combinations which you call nature, these constant
changes are going on for the enjoyment of the soul, for
its liberation, that it may gain all this experience from the
lowest to the highest. When it has gained it, the soul
finds it was never in nature, that it was entirely separate,
that it is indestructible, that it cannot go and come ; that
going to heaven and being born again were in nature, and
not in the soul. Thus the soul becomes free. All nature
is working for the enjoyment and experience of the soul.
It is getting this experience in order to reach the goal, and
that goal is freedom. But the souls are many according to
the Sankhya philosophy. There is an infinite number of
souls. The other conclusion of Kapila is that there is no
God as the Creator of the universe. Nature is quite suffi-
cient by itself to account for everything. God is not
necessary, says the Sankhya.

The Vedanta saya that the Soul is in its nature Exist-
ence absolute, Knowledge absolute. Bliss absolute. But
these are not qualities of the Soul ; they are one, not
three, the essence of the Soul ; and it agrees with the
Sankhya in thinking that intelligence belongs to nature,
inamiuch as it comes through nature. The Vedanta also
shows that what is called intelligence is a compound.

458

SWAMl VIVEKANANOA'S WOKKS

For instance, kt us examke our peioqf^ns. I see . a
black'boatd. How does the knowledge corned What
German philosophers call "the thing-in-its^’ o£ tbie tdaciL*
board is unknown, I can never know it. Let us call it x.
The Uack-board x acts on my mind, and tlm mind
reacts. The mind is like a lake. Throw a stone in a
lake and a reactionary wave comes towards the stone ;
this wave is not like the stone at all, it is a wave. The
black-board x is like a stone which strikes the mind and
the mind throws up a' wave towards it, and this wave is
what we call 'the black-board. I see you. You as reality
are unknown and unknowable. You are x and you act
upon my mind, and the mind throws a wave in the
directicHi from which the impact comes, and that wave
is what 1 call Mr. or Mrs. So-and-so. There are two
elements in the perception, one coming from outside
and the other from imide, and the combination of these
two, X -t-mind, is our external universe. All knowledge is
by reaction. In the case of a whale it has been determined
by calculation how long after its tail is struck, its mind
reacts and the whale feels the pain. Similar is the case
with internal perception. The real self within me is also
unknown and unknowable. Let us call it y. When 1
know myself as so-and-so, it is y-i-the mind. That y
strikes a blow on the mind. So our whole world is x -f
mind (external), and y -t-mind (internal), x and y
standing for the thing-in-itself bdiind the external and
the internal worids respectively.

According to Vedanta, the three fundamental factors
of consciousness are, I exist, I know, and I am blessed.
The idea that I have no want, that I am restful, peaceful,
that nothing can disturb me, which comes from time to
time, is the central fact o( our being; the basic principle
of our life : and when it becomm limited, and becomes a
conqxmnd, it manifesu itself as existence 'phenomenal,
knowledge phenomenal, and love. Every man eyistit, and

SAKKHirA AND VEDANTA 4S9

every man must know, end every man is mad for love. He
cannot help loving. Through all existence, from the lowest
to. the highest, all muu The y, the in^nal thing-
in-itsdf, whidi, combining with mind, manufactures exist-
ence, knowledge, and love, is called by the Vedantists.
Existence absolute. Knowledge absolute. Bliss absolute.
That real existence is limitless, unmixed, uncombined,
knows no change, is the free soul ; when it gets mixed up,
muddled up, as it were, with the mind, it becomes what
we call individual existence. It is plant life, animal life,
human life, just as universal space is cut off in a room, in
a jar, and so on. And that real knowledge is not what
we know, not intuition, nor reason, nor instinct. When
that degenerates and is confused, we call it intuition ;
when it degenerates more, we call it reason ; and when it
degenerates still more, we call it instinct. That knowledge
itself is Vijndna, neither intuition, nor reason nor instinct.
The nearest expression for it is all-knowingness. There
is no limit to it, no combination in it. That bliss, when it
gets clouded over, we call love, attraction for gross bodies
or fine bodies, or for ideas. This is only a distorted mani-
festation of that blessedness. Absolute Existence, abso-
lute Knowledge, and abstdute Blessedness are not qualities
of the soul, but the essence ; there is no difference between
them and the soul. And the three are one : we see the
one thing in three different aspects. They are beyond all
relative knowledge. That eternal knowledge of the Self
percolating through the teain of man becomes his intui-
tion, reason, and so on. Its manifestation varies aconding
to the medium through which it shines. As soul, there is
no difference between man atul the lowest animal, only
the latter’s tnain is less developed and the manifestation
throng it which we call hudnct is very dull. In a man
the brain is much finmr, so the manifestation is much
(fearer, and in the hig^iest maft it becomes' entirely dear.
So wfth existence 1 tiie existence which we know, the
it-W

460

SWAMl VIVEKANANQA'S WC«KS

limited sphere of existence, is simply a refiection of that
real existence which is the nature of the scml. So with
bliss ; that which we call love or attraction is but die
reflection of the eternal blessedness of the Sdf. With
manifestation comes limitation, but the unmanifested, the
essential nature of the soul, is unlimited ; to that blessed*
ness there is no limit. But in love there is limitation.
I love you one day, I hate you the next. My love in-
creases one day and decreases the next, because it is only
a manifestation.

The first point we will contend with Kapila is his idea
of God. Just as the series of modifications of Prakrit!,
beginning with the individual intellect and ending with
the individual body, require a Purusha behind, as the ruler
and governor, so, in the Cosmos, the universal intellect,
the universal egoism, the universal mind, all universal fine
and gross materials, must have a ruler and governor.
How will the cosmic series become complete without the
universal Purusha behind them all as the ruler and
governor ? If you deny a universal Purusha behind the
cosmic series, we deny your Purusha behind the individual
series. If it be true that behind the series of graded,
evolved individual manifestations, there stands One that
is beyond them all, the Purusha who is not composed of
matter, the very same logic will apply to the case of
universal manifestations. This Universal Self which is
beyond the universal modifications of Prakrit! is what is
called Ishwara, the Supreme Ruler, God.

Now comes the more important point of difference.
Can there be more than one Purusha ? The Purusha, we
have seen, is omnipresent and infinite. The omnipresent,
the infinite, cannot be two. If there are two infinites A
and B, the infinite A would limit the infinite B, because
the infinite B is not the infinite A, and the infinite A is
not the infinite B. Diffe*«nce in identity means exclusion,
and exclusion means limitation. Therefore, A and B,

SANKHYA AIQ> VEDANTA

«1

limiting each other, cease to be infinites. Hence, there
can be but one infinite, that is, one Purusha.

Now we will take up our x and y and show they
are one. We have shown how what we call the extenial
world is x+mind, and the internal world y+mind;
X and y are both quantities unknown and unknowable.
All difference is due to time, space, and causation. These
are the constituent elements of the mind. No mentality is
possible without them. You can never think without
time, you can never imagine anything without space, and
you can never have anything without causation. These are
the forms of the mind. Take them away, and the mind
itself does not exist. All difference is, therefore, due to the
mind. According to Vedanta, it is the mind, its forms,
that have liMited x and y apparently and made them
appear as external and internal worlds. But x and y,
being both beyond the mind, are without difference and
hence one. We cannot attribute any quality to them,
because qualities are bom of the mind. That which is
qualityless must be one ; x is without qualities, it only
takes qualities of the mind ; so does y ; therefore these
X and y are one. The whole universe is one. There is
only one Self in the universe, only One Existence, and
that One Existence, when it passes through the forms of
time, space, and causation, is called by different names,
Buddhi, fine matter, gross matter, all ntental and physical
forms. Everything in the universe is that One, appearing
in various forms. When a little part of it comes, as it
wa«, into this network of time, space, and causation, it
takes forms ; take off the network, and it is all one.
Therefore in the Advaita philosophy, the whole universe
is all one in the Self which is called Brahman. That Self
when it appears behind the universe is called God. The
aame Self when it appears behind this little universe, the
body, is the soul. Tbis very soul, therefore, is the Self in
man. There is only tme Purusha, the Brahman of the

m SWAm VIVEKANANDA^S WORKS

Vedanta ; God and man, analysed, are one in It. The
universe is you yourself, the unbroken you ; you are
throughout the universe. 'In all hands you work, through
all mouths you eat, through all nostrils you breathe,
through all minds you think.** The whole universe is
you ; the universe is your body ; you are the universe
both formed and unformed. You are the soul of the
universe and its body also. You are God, you are the
angels, you are man; you are animals, you are the
plants, you are the minerals, you are everything ; the
manifestation of everything is you. Whatever exists is
you. You are the Infinite. The Infinite cannot be
divided. It can have no parts, for each part would be
infinite, and then the part would be identical with the
whole, which is absurd. Therefore the idea that you are
Mr. So-and-so can never be true ; it is a day-dream.
Know this and be free. This is the Advaita conclusion.
‘*I am neither the body, nor the organs, nor am I the
mind ; I am Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss absolute ;
I am He.’* This is true knowledge ; all reason and
intellect, and everything else is ignorance. Where is
knowledge for me, for I am knowledge itself! Where is
life for me, for I am life itself! I am sure I live, for I ani
life, the One Being, and nothing exists except through
me, and in me, and as me. I am manifested through the
elements, but I am the free One. Who seeks freedom ?
Nobody. If you think that you are bound, you remain
bound : you make your own bondage. If you know that
you are free, you are free this moment. This is know-
ledge, knowledge of freedom. Freedom is. the goal of
all nature.

THE GOAL*

(Delivered in San Francisco^ March 27, 1900)

We find that man, as it were, is always surrounded
by something greater than himself, and he is trying to
grasp the meaning of this. Man will ever [seek] the
highest ideal. He knows that it exists and that religion
is the search after the highest ideal. At first all his
searches were in the external plane — ^placed in heaven,
in different places — ^just according to [his grasp] of the
total nature of man.

[Later,] man began to look at himself a little closer
and began to find out that the real was not the

"'me’* that he stands for ordinarily. As he appears to
the senses is not the same as he really is. He began to
[search] inside of himself, and found out that . , . the
same ideal he [had placed] outside of himself is all the
time within ; what he was worshipping outside was his
own real inner nature. The difference between dualism
and monism is that when the ideal is put outside [of
oneself], it is dualism. When God is [sought] within, it
is monism.

First, the old question of why and wherefore . . . .
How is it that man became limited ? How did the
Infinite become finite, the pure become impure? In the
first place, you must never forget that this question can
never be answered [by] any dualistic hypothesis.

Why did God create the impure universe ? Why is
man so miserable, made by a perfect, infinite, merciful

' Reprinted from' the Vedanta and the West, May-June 1958.
The editors of the Magazine pul^tshed it as it was recorded, addiiig
certain words (in sqwirc brackets) to maintain the continuity of
thought, and p^tods to indicate omissions that might have occurred
in lecording.-^Ed.

464

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Father? Why this heaven and earth, looking at which
we get our conception of law ? Nobody can imagine
anything that he has not seen.

All the tortures we feel in this life, we put in another
place and that is our hell ....

Why did the infinite God make this world ? pThe
dualist says:] Just as the potter makes pots. Cod the
potter; we the pots. ... In more philosophical
language the question is: How is it taken for granted
that the real nature of man is pure, perfect, and infinite ?
This is the one difficulty found in any system of monism.
Everything else is clean and clear. This question can-
not be answered. The ntonists say the question itself is
a contradiction.

Take the system of dualism — ^the question is asked
why God created the world. This is contradictory. Why ?
Because — what is the idea of God ? He is a being who
cannot be acted upon by anything outside.

You and I are not free. I am thirsty. There is some-
thing called thirst, over which I have no control, [which]
forces me to drink water. Every action of my body and
even every thought of my mind is forced out of me. I
have got to do it. That is why I am bound .... I am
forced to do this, to have this, and so on ... . And
what is meant by why and wherefore ? [Being subject
to external forces.] Why do you drink water ? Because
thirst fqrces you. You are a slave. You never do any-
thing of your own will because you are forced to do every-
thing. Your only motive for "action is some force ....

The earth, by itself, would never move unless some-
thing forced it. Why does the light bum ? It does not
bum unless somebody comes and strikes a match.
Throughout nature, everything is bound. Slavery,
daveryl To be in harmony with nature is [slavery].
What is there in being the slave of nature and living in
a golden cage ? The greatest law and -order is in the

(knowledge that man is essentially bee and divine]
Now we see .that the question why and wherefore can
only be adced [in ignorance], I can only be forced to
do something througii something dse.

[You say] God is free. Again you ask the question
why God creates the worid. You contradict yourself.
The meaning of God is entirdy free will. The question
put in logical language is this; What fenreed Him, who
can never be forced by anybody, to create the world ?
You say in the same question. What forced Him ? The
question is nonsense. He is infinite by His very nature ;
He is free. We shall answer questions when you can
ask tiiem in logical language. Reason will tell you that
there is only one Reality, nothing else. Wherever dualism
has risen, monism came to a head and drove it out

There is only one difficulty in understanding this.
Religion is a common-sense, everyday thing. The man in
the street knosvs it if you put it in his language and not
[if it is put] in a philosopher’s language. It is a common
thing in human nature to project itself]. Think of your
feeling with the child. [You identify yourself with it.
Then] you have two bodies. [Similarly] you can fed
through your husband’s mind. Where can you stop ?
You can feel in infinite bodies.

Na^re is conquered by man every day. As a race,
man is manifesting his power. Try in imagination to put
a limit to this power in man. You admit that man as a
race has infinite power, has [an] infinite body. The only
question is what you are. Are you the race or one
[individual] ? The moment you isolate yourself, every-
thing hurts you. The moment you expand and feel for
others, you gain hdp. The selfish man ‘is the most miser-
aUe in the world. The happiest is the man who is not
at all sdfish. He has bec^e the whole creation, the
whde race, and God [is] within him. ... So in dualism —
Christian, Hindu, and all rdigions — the code of ethics

466

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

. . . is: Do not be selfish . . . ..Be unteUUi. Do
things for others! Expand! ...

The ignorant can be made to undostand [tins] very
easily, and the learned can be made to understaaid sdU
more easily. But the man who has just got a speck of
learning, him God himself cannot make understand. [The
truth is,] you are not separate [from this universe] ;
[just as your Spirit] is [not] separate from the test of you.
If [not] so, you could not see anything, could not fed
anything. Our bodies are simply little whirlpools in the
ocean of matter. Life is taking a turn and passing qn,
in another form .... The sun, the moon, the stars, you
and I are mere whirlpools. Why did I select [a particular
mind as mine ? It is] simply a mental whirlpool in the
ocean of mind.

How else is it possible that my vibration reaches you
just now ? If you throw a stone in the lake, it raises a
vibration and [that stirs] the water into vibration. I throw
my mind into the state of bliss and the tendency is to
raise the same bliss in your mind. How often in your
mind or heart [you have thought something] and without
[verbal] communication, [others have got your thot^t] ?
Everywhere we are one. . . . That is what we never
understand. The whole [universe] is composed of time,
space, and causation. And God [appears as t]iis uni-
verse]. . . . When did nature b(^n ? When you
[fcHgot yjur true natbre and] became [bound by time,
space, and causation].

This -is the [rotating] drcle of your bodies and yet
that is your infinite nature. . . . That is certainly nature
— ^time, space, and causation. That is all that is meant
by nature. Time began what you began to think, ^ace
began when ,you got the body ; otherwise there caoinot
be any space. Causation began when you became
limited. We have to have lomt sort ci ttaprer. There
is the answer. [Our limitation} is {day. Just for die fun

4m

TtBS^QOm^

of it, Nothiojg; biods. )(ou; notliii^ fovces [you. You
were} nevar bound. We are all acting our parts in tii»
[play] cMur own. inventkn.

But let us bring another q^uestion about individuality.
Some people are so afraid losing their individuality.
Wouldn't it be better for the pig to lose his pig-individ-
uality if he can become God? Yes. But the poor pig
does not think so at the time. Which state is my individ-
uality ? When 1 was a baby sprawling tm the floor
trying to swallow my thumb? Was that the individuality
I should be sorry to lose ? Fifty years hence 1 shall look
upon this present state and laugh, just as I [now] look
upon the baby state. Which of tiiese individualities shall
I keep ? . . .

We are to understand what is meant by this individ-
uality. . . . [There are two opposite tendencies;] one
is the protection of the individuality, the other is the
intense desire to sacrifice the individuality. . . . The
mother sacrifices all her own will for the needy baby.
. . . When she carries the baby in her arms, the call of
individuality, of self-preservation is no more heard. She
will eat the worst food, but her children will have the
best. So for all the people we love we are ready to die.

[On the one hand] we are strugj^ing hard to keep
up this individuality i on the other hand, trying to kill it.
With what result ? Tom Brown ma]r strugg^ hard. He
is [fighting] for his individiudity. Tom ^es and there is
not a ri{q>le anywhere upon the surface of the earth.
There was a Jew Ixwn nineteen hundred years ago, and
he never moved a finger to keep hfo individuality. . . .
Think of- that 1 That Jew never struggled to protect his
individuality. That is why he became the greatest in the
world. This is what tiie world does nm know.

In time we are to be in^viduals. But in what soise ?
What is the individuality ol'men ? Not Tom Brown, but
God in man. That is (he [true] individuality. The more

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

man has approached that, the more he has given up hit
false individuality. The more he tries to collect and gain
everything [for himself], thC less he is an individual. The
less he has thought of [himself], the niore he has sacrificed
all individuality during his lifetime, . . . the more he is
an individual. This is one secret the world does not
understand. . . .

We must first understand what is meant by individ*
uality. It is attaining the ideal. You are man now, [or]
you are woman. You will change all the time. Can you
stop ? Do you want to keep your minds as they are now
— the angers, hatreds, jealousies, quarrels, all the thousand
and one things in the mind? Do you mean to say that
you will keep them ? . . . You cannot stop anywhere
. . . until perfect conquest has been achieved, until you
are pure and you are perfect

You have no more anger when you are all love, bliss,
infinite existence. . . . Which of your bodies will you
keep ? You cannot stop anywhere until you come to life
that never ends. Infinite life! You stop there. You have
a little knowledge now and are always trying to get more.
Where will you stop ? Nowhere, until you become one
with life itsdf. . . .

Many want pleasure [as] the goal. For that pleasure
they seek only the senses. On the higher planes much
pleasure is to be sought. Then on spiritual planes. Then
in himself — God within him. The man whose pleasure is
outside of [himself] beccnnes unhappy when that outside
thing goes. You cannot depend for this pleasure upon
anything in this universe. If all my pleasures are in myself,
1 must have pleasure there all the time because X can
never lose my Self. . . . Mother, father, diild, wife, body,
wealth — everything 1 can lose except my self . . . bliss
in the Self. All desire is contained in the Self... . .
This, is individuality whidi never dianges, and this
is perfect.

THE GOAL

489

. . . And how to get it ? They find what the great
souls of this world — all great mm and women — found
[through sustained discrimination]. . . . What of these
diialistic theories of twenty gods, thirty gods ? It does
not matter. They all had the one truth, that this false
individuality must go. ... So this ego — ^the less there
is of it, the nearer 1 am to that which I really am: the
universal body. The less I think of my own individual
mind, the nearer I am to that universal mind. The less
I think of my own soul, the nearer I am to the universal
soul.

We live in one body. We have some pain, some
pleasure. Just for this little pleasure we have by living
in this body, we are ready to kill everything in the
universe to preserve ourselves. If we had two bodies,
would not that be much better ? So on and on to bliss.
I am in everybody. Through all hands I work ; through
all feet I walk. 1 speak through every mouth ; I live in
every body. Infinite my bodies, infinite my minds. I
lived in Jesus of Nazareth, in Buddha, in Mohammed — ^in
all the great and good of the past, of the present. I am
going to live in all that [may] come afterwards. Is that
theory ? [No, it is the truth.]

If you can realise this, how infinitely more pleasur-
able that will be. What an ecstasy of joy! Which one
body is so great that we need hwe anything [of] the
body ? . . . After living in all the bodies of others,
enjoying all the bodies there are in this world, what
becomei of us ? [We become one* with the Infinite.
And] that is the goal. That is the only way. One [man]
says, “If I know the truth, 1 shall be melted away like
butter." I wish people would be, but they are too tough
to be melted so quiddyl

What are we to do to be free ? Free you are already.
. . . How could the free ever be bound ? It is a lie.
[You were] never bound. How could the unlimited ever

470

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

be limited by anything ? Infinite divided by infinite,
added to infinite, multiplied by infinite [remains] infinite.
You are infinite : God is infinite. You are all infinite.
There cannot be two existences, only one. Tlie Infinite
can never be made finite. You are never bound. That
is all. . . . You are free already. You have reached the
goal — all there is to reach. Never allow the mind to think
that you have not reached the goal. ...

Whatever we [think] that we become. If you think
you are poor sinners you hypnotise yourselves: “I am a
miserable, crawling worm.” Those who believe in hell
are in hell when they die ; those who say that they will
go to heaven [go to heaven].

It is all play. . . . [You may say,] “We have to do
something : let us do good.” [But] who cares, for good
and evil ? Play! God Almighty plays. That is all. . . .
You are the almighty God playing. If you want to play
on the side and take the part of a beggar, you are not
[to blame someone else for making that choice]. You
enjoy being the beggar. You know your real nature [to
be divine]. You are the king and play you are a beggar.
... It is all fun. Know it and play. That is all there
is to it. Then practise it. The whole universe is a vast
play. All is good because all is fun. This star comes
and crashes with our earth, and we are all dead. [That
too is fun.] You only think fun the little things diat
delight your senses! ...

[We are told that there is] one good god here, and
one bad god there always on the watch to grab me the
moment I make a misuke. '. . . When I was a child 1
was told by someone that God watches everything. I
went tQ bed and looked up and eiqpected the ceiling erf
the room to open. [Nothing happened.] Nobody, is
watdimg us except oursdves. No Lwd except our [own
Sdf] ; no nature but what we fed. Habit is second
nature ; it is first nature also. It is all there is of nature.

THE GOAL

471

I [tonietiting] two or three tieoes ; it becoioes my

natute. Do not be iniserabtel Do not reftenti What
is done is dtme. If you burn yourself, [take the
'consequences].

... Be sensible. We make mistakes ; what of
that ? That is all in fun. They go so crazy over their
past sins, moaning and weeping and all that. Do not
repent I After having d<me work, do not think of it. Go
on! St(^ not! Don’t’ look back! What will you gain
by looking back ? You lose nothing, gain nothing.
You are not going to be melted like butter. Heavens and
hells and incarnations — all nonsense!

Whib is bom and who dies ? You are having fun,
playing with worlds and all that. You keep this body as
long as you like. If you do not like it, do not have it.
The Infinite is the real ; the finite is the jday. You are
the infinite body and the finite body in one. Know it!
But knowledge will not make any difference; the play
will go on. . . . Two words — soul and body — have been
joined. [Partial] knowledge is the cause. Know that
you are always free. The fire of knowledge burns down
all the [impurities and limitations]. I am that .Infinite. . . .

You are as free as you weee in the beginning, are
now, and always will be. He who knows that he is hree
is free ; he who knows that he is bound is bound.

'What becomes of God and worship and all that ?
They have their place. I have divided myself into God
and me ; I become the worshipped and I worship myself.
Why not ? God is I. Why not worship my Self ? The
universal God — He is also my Self. It is all fun. There
is no other purpose.

What is the end and ahn of life ? None, because I
[know that I am the Infinite]. If you ‘are beggars, you
can have aims. I have no aims, no want, no purpose.
I come to your country, and lecture — just for fun. No
other meaning. What meaning can be there ? Only

472

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA*S WORKS

daves do acti<uis for somebody else. You do acdons for
nobody else. When it suits you, you worriiip. You can
join the Christians, the Mohammedans, the Chinese, the
Japanese. You can worship all the gods that ever were
and are ever going to be. . . .

I am in the sun, the moon, and the stars. I am with
God and I am in all the gods. I worship my Self.

There is another side to it. I have kept it in reserve.
I am the man that is going to be hanged. I am all the
wicked. I am getting punished in hells. That [also] is
fun. This is the goal of philosophy [to know that I am
the Infinite]. Aims, motives, purposes, and duties live
in the background. . . .

This truth is first to be listened tp, then to be thought
about. Reason, argue it out by all manner of means. The
enlightened know no more than that. Know it for certain
that you are in everything. That is why you should not
hurt anybody, because in hurting them you hurt your-
self. . . . [Lastly,] this is to be meditated upon. Think upon
it. Can you realise there will come a time when everything
will crumble in the dust and you will stand alone? That
moment of ecstatic joy will never leave you. You will
actually find that you are without bodies. You never
had bodies.

I am One, alone, through all eternity. Whom shall
I fear? It is all my Self. This is continuously to be
meditkted upon. Through that comes realisation. It is
through realisation that you become a [blessing] to
others.' ...

"Thy face shines like [that of] one who has known
God.”^ That is the goal. This is not to be preached as
I am doing. "Under a tree 1 saw a readier, a boy of
sixteen; the disdple was an old man of eigjity. The
teacher was teaching in silence, and the doubts of the

> CMtSadogfi, IV. ix. g.

THE GOAL

47S

duc^ple vanidied.’'* And who qf>eaks? Who lights a
candle to see the sun? When the truth [dawns], no witness
is necessary. You Imow it. . . . That is what you are
going to do: . . . realise it. First think o{ it. Reason it
out. Satisfy your curiosity. Then [think] of nothing else.
1 wish we never read anything. Lord help us alll Just see
what [a learned] man becomes.

“This is said, and that is said. ...”

“What do you say. my firiend?”

“1 say nothing.” [He quotes] everybody else’s
thought : but he thinks nothing. If this is education, what
is lunacy? Look at all the men who wrote 1 . . . These
modem writers, not two sentences their own I All
quotations. . . .

There is not much value in books, and in [second-
hand] religion there is no value whatsoever. It is like
eating. Your religion would not satisfy me. Jesus saw
God and Buddha saw God. If you have not seen God,
you are no better than the atheist. Only he is quiet, and
you talk much and disturb the world with your talk. Books
and bibles and scriptures are of no use. I met an old man
when I was a boy ; [he did not study any scripture, but
he transmitted the truth of God by a touch].

Silence ^ teachers of the world. Silence ye books.
Lord, Thou alone speak and Thy servant Hsteneth. . . .
If truth is not there, what is the use of this life? We all
think we will catch it, but we do nol. Most of us catch
only dust. God is not there. If no God, what is the use
of life? Is there any resting-place in the universe? [It
is up to us to find it] ; only we do not [search for it
intensely. We are] like a little piece of straw carried on
in the current.

If there is this trath, if there is God, it must be
within us. . . . [I must be able to say,] “I have seen

^ Dakihinimttrtittotnm, 12.

474

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Him with my eyes,” Otherwise 1 have no rdigkm. Beliefs;
doctrines, semimu do not make rdigion. It is leidisatkm,
perception of God [which alone is rel^on]. \\^t is the
g^ory of all these men tvhom the world wordiips? God'
was no mme a doctrine [for them. Did they believe]
because their grandfather bdiieved it? No. It was the
realisation of the Infinite, higher than their own bodies,
minds, and everything. This world is real inamuich as
it contains a litde bit [of] the refiection of that God. We
love the good man because in his face shines the reflection
a little more. We must catch it ourselves. There is
no other way.

That is the goal. Struggle for iti Have your own
Bible. Have your own Christ. Otherwise you are not
religious. Do not talk religion. Men talk and talk.
"Some of them, steeped in darkness, in the pride of their
hearts think that they have the lig|it. And not only [that],
they offer to take others upon their shoulders and both
fall into the pit."* . . .

No church ever saved by itsdf. It is good to be bom
in a temple, but woe unto the person who dies in a temple
or church. Out itI ... It was a good beginning, but
leave it! It was the childhood place . . . but let it bel . . .
Go to God directly. No theories, no doctrines. Hien
alone will all doubts vanish. 'Hien akme will all crooked-
ness be made straight . . .

In the midst of the manifold, he who sees that One ;
in the midst of this infinite death, he who sees that- one
life ; in the midst the manifold, he who sees that which
never changes in his own soul— -unto him belongs eternal
peace.

*Katlia. 1. U. 5.

REPORTS IN
AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

T&cae reports from American newspapers have been given
exactly as tney were in the original. The wrong spdSings
of proper names, faulty punctuation and grammar have
been left uncorrected. — Publisher^

n— SI

DIVINITY OF MAN

(Ada Record, Februaiy 28, 1894)

The lecture on the Divinity of Man by Swami Vive
Kananda/ the Hindu monk, drew a packed house at the
Opera last Friday evening [February 22].

He stated that the fundamental basis of all religions
was belief in the soul which is the real man, and something
beyond both mind and matter, and proceeded to demon-
strate the proposition. The existence of things material are
dependent on something else. The mind is mortal because
changeable. Death is simply a change.

The soul uses the mind as an instrument and through
it affects the body. The soul should be made conscious of
its powers The nature of man is pure and holy but it
becomes clouded. In our religion every soul is trying to
regain its own nature. The mass of our people believe in
the individuality of the soul. We are forbidden to preach
jhat ours is the only true religion. Continuing the speaker
said: “I am a spirit and not matter. The religion of
the West hopes to again live with their body. Ours teaches
there can not be such a state. We say freedom of the soul
instead of salvation.” The lecture proper lasted but SO
minutes but the president of the lecture committee had
announced that at the dose c' the lecture the speaker
would answer any questions propounded him. He gave
that opportunity and liberal use was made of the privilege.
They came from preachers and professors, physicians and
philosophers, from citizens and students, from saints and
sinners, some were written but dozens arose in their seats
and propounded their questions directly. The speaker

‘ In the earlier days Swami Vtvekananda's name was thus mis-spelt
by the American Press.— -FnhUsfter.

478

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

responded to all — ^mark the wotd, please — in an a&ble
manner and in several instances turned the laugh on the
inquirer. They kept up die fosilade for nearly an hour ;
when the speaker begged to be excused from further labor
there yet remained a laige pile of unanswered questions..
He was an artful dodger on many of the questions. From
his answers we g^ean the following additional statements
in regard to the Hindu belief and teachings: They bdieve
in the incarnation of man. One of their teachings is to the
that their God Krishna was bom of a viigin about
5000 years ago in the North India. The story is very
similar to the Biblical history of Christ, only their God
was accidently killed. They believe in evoludon and the
transmigration of souls: i.e. our souls once Inhabited some
other living thing, a bird, fish or animal, and on our death
will go into some other organism. In reply to the inquiry
where these souls were before they came into this world
he said they were in other worlds. The £ul is the
permanent basis of all existence. There was no time when
there was no God, therefore no time when there was no
creation. Buddhists [sic] do not believe in a personal god ;

I am no Buddhist. Mohammed is not worshipped in the
same sense as Christ. Mohammed bdieves in Christ but
denies he is God. The earth was peopled by evolution and
not special selection [creation]. God is the aeator and
nature the created. We do not have prayer save for the
children and then only to improve the mind. Punish*
ment for sin is comparativdy immediate. Our actions are
not of the soul and can therefore be impure. It is our
spirit that becomes perfect and holy. There is no resting
place for the soul. It hu no material qualities. Man
assumes the perfect state when he realizes he is a spirit.
Bdigion is the manifestation of the soul nature. The
deeper they see is what makes. one holier than another.
Worship is feding the htdiness ci God. Our reUgion does
not believe in missions and teaches that man diould love

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS 479

God for love's Mke and his neighbor in spite ot hirnsdl
The people of the West struggle too hard; rq>ose is a
factor of civilization. We do not lay our infimities to
God. There is a tendency toward a union of religions.

SWAM! VIVEKANANDA ON INDIA
(Bay/ City Daily Tribune, March 21, 1894)

Bay City had a distinguidied visitor yesterday in the
person of Swami Vive Kananda, the much talked of
Hindoo monk. He arrived at noon from Detroit where he
has been the guest of Senator Palmer and proceeded
immediately to the Fraser house. There he was seen by a
reporter for The Tribune.

Kananda spoke entertainingly of his country and his
impressions of this country. He came to America via the
Pacific and will return via the Atlantic. “This is a great
land,” he said, “but I wouldn’t like to live here. Americans
think too much of money. They give it preference over
everything else. Your people have much to leam. When
your nation is as old as ours you will be wiser. I like
Chicago very much and Detroit is a. nice place.”

Asked how long he intended remaining in America,
he replied: *‘l do not know. I am trying to see most of
your country. 1 go east next and will spend some time at
Bostmt and New York. I have visited Boston but not to
stay. When I have seen America I shall go to Europe. I
am very anxious to visit Euit^. I have never been there.”

Concerning himself the easterner said he was 30 years
old. He was bom at Csikutta ami educated at a college in
that city. His profession calls him to all parts of the
country, and he is’at aU times the guest of the nation.

480

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

“India has a population of 285,000,000/’ he said. "Of
these-about 65,000,000 are Mohammedans and most of the
others Hindoos. There are only about 600,000 Christians
in the country, and of these at least 250,000 are Catholics.
Our people do not, as a rule, embrace Christianity ; they
are satisfied with their own religion. Some go into
Christianity for mercenary motives. They are free to do as
they wish. We say let everybody have his own faith. We
are a cunning nation. We do not believe in bloodshed.
There are wicked men in our country and they are in the
majority, same as in your country. It is unreasonable to
expect people to be angels.”

Vive Kananda will lecture in Saginaw to-night.

LECTURE LAST NIGHT

The lower floor of the opera house was comfortably
filled when the lecture began last evening. Promptly at
8 : 15 o’clock Swami Vive Kananda made his appearance
on the stage, dressed in his beautiful oriental costume. He
was introduced in a few words by Dr. C. T. Newkirk.

The first part of the discourse consisted of an
explanation of the different religions of India and of the
theory of transmigration of souls. In connection with the
latter, the speaker said it was on the same basis as the
theory of conservation was to the scientist. This latter
theory,*he said, was first produced by a philosopher of his
country. They did not believe in a creation. A creation
implied making something out ot nothing. That was im-
possible. ’There was no beginning of creation. Just as there
was no beginning of time. God and creation are as two
lines — ^without end, without beginning, without [?] parallel.
’Their theory of creation ij, "It is, was, and is to te.” They
think all punishment is but re-action. If we put our hand
in the fire it b burned. That is the re-action of the action.
The future condition of life is determined by the present

481

REPOUTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

♦i

condition. They do not bdieve God jHinidies. ‘‘You, in
this land,” said the speaker, ‘‘praise the man who does not
get angry and denounce the man who does become angry.
And yet thousands of peo{de throughout this country aire
every day accusing God of being angry. Everybody
denounces Nero, who sat and played on his instrument
while Rome was burning, and yet thousands of your
pet^le are accusing God of doing the Sfune thing today.”

The Hindoos have no theory of redemption in their
religion. Christ is only to show the way. Every man and
woman is a divine being, but covered as though hy a
saeen, which their religion is trying to remove. The
removal of that Christians call salvation, they, freedom.
God is the creator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe.

The speaker then sought to vindicate the religions of
his country. He said it had been proven that the entire
system of the Roman Catholic Church had been taken
from the books of Buddhism. The people of the west
should learn one thing from India — toleration.

Among other subjects which he held up and overhaul-
ed were: The ■ Christian missionaries, the zeal of the
Presbyterian church and its non-toleration, the dollar-
worshipping in this country, and the priests. The latter
he said were in the business for the dollars there were in it,
and wanted to know how long they would stay in the
church if they had to depend on ^ting their pay from
God. After q>eaking briefly on the Caste system in India,
our dviliution in the south, our general knowledge of the
mind, and various other tt^ics the speaker conduded his
remarks.

482 SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

REUGIOUS HARMONY
{Soffnaw Evening News, ManA 22, 1894)

Swami Vive Kananda. the mudi talked of Hindoo
monk, spdkt to a onall but deejdy interested audience last
evening at the academy of music on "The Hanmmy of
Rdigions”. He was dressed in oriental costume and
received an extremely cordial reception. Hon. Rowland
Connor gracefully introduced the speaker, who devoted the
first portion of his lecture to an explanation of Uie different
religions of India and of the theory of transmigration of
souls. The first invaders of India, the Aryans, did not try
to exterminate the population of India as the Christians
have done when tlhey went into a new land, but the
endeavour was made to elevat^ persons of brutish habits.
The Hindoo is disgusted with those people of his own
country who do not bathe and who eat dead animals. The
Northern people of India have not tried to force their
customs on the southerns, but the latter gradually adopted
many ways of the fcnmer class. In southernmost portions
of India there are a few persons who are Christians and
who have been so fmr thousands [?] of years. The Spaniards
came to Ceylon with Christianity. The Spaniards thought
that their God commanded them to kill and murder and
to tear down heathen temples.

If there were not different religions no one religion
would survive. The Christian needs his selfish religion.
The Hindoo needs his own creed. Those which were
founded on a book still stand. Why could not the Christian
convert the Jew ? Why could they not make the Persians
Christians? Why not so with the Mohammedans? Why
cannot any impression be made upon China or Japan ?
The Buddhists, the first missionary rdigion, have douUe
the number of converts of any other religion and they did
not use the sword. The Mohammedans used the most
force, and ' they number the least of the three great

REPORTS IN AMERICAM NEWSPAPERS 48t

tuissiOBary religions. The Mohammedans have had tbdr
day. Eveiy day ymi lead of CSmstian natkms acqairing
land by bloodshed. What missionaries preach against this ?
Why should the most bloodthirsty naticms exalt an allied
religion whidi is not the leli^on of Christ ? The Jews
and the Arabs were the fathers of Chtisti^ty, and how
have they bear posecuted by the ChristiansI The
Christians have been weighed in the balance in India and
found wanting.

The speaker did not wish to be iinkind, but he wanted
to show Christians how they looked in other eyes. The
Missionaries who preach the burning pit are regar^d with
horror. The Mohammedans rolled wave after wave over
India, waving the sword, and today where are they ? The
farthest that all religions can see is the existence of a
spiritual entity. So no religion can teach beyond this point.
In every religion there is the essential truth and non-
essential casket in which this jewel lies. The believing in
the Jewish book or the Hindoo book is non-essential.
Circumstances change, the receptacle is different ; but the
central truth remains. The essentials being the same, the
educated people of every community retain the essentials.
The shell of the oyster is not attractive, but the pearls are
within. Before a small fraction of the world is converted
Christianity will be divided into many creeds. That is the
law of nature. Why take a single instnjm«it from the great
religious orchestras of the earth ? Let the grand symphony
go on. Be pure, urged the speaker, give up superstition
and see the wonderful harmony of nature. Superstition gets
the better of religion. All the religions are good since the
essentials are fire same. Each man should have the perfect
mcodse of his individuality but these individualities form
a perfect whtde. This marvellous condition is already in
existence. Eadi creed has had something to add to the
wtmdetful structure.

The ^aker sou^t throughout to vindicate the

484

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

religions of his country and said that it had been proven
that the entire system of the Roman Catholic Chur^ had
been taken from the books Buddhism. He dilated at
some length on the high code of morality and purity of life
that the ethics of Buddha taught but allowed that as far
as the belief in the personality of God was concerned,
agnosticism prevailed, the main thing being to follow out
Buddha’s precepts which were, “Be good, be moral, be
perfect."

FROM FAR OFF INDIA
(Saginaw Courier-Herald, March 22, 1894)

Seated in the lobby of the Hotel Vincent yesterday
evening was a strong and regular featured man of fine
presence, whose swarthy skin made more pronounced the
pearly whiteness of his even teeth. Under a broad and
high forehead his eyes betoken intelligence. This gentle-
man was Swami Vive Kananda, the Hindoo preacher. Mr.
Kananda's conversation is in pure and grammatically
constructed English sentences, to which his slightly foreign
accent lends piquancy. Readers of the Detroit papers we
aware that Mr. Kananda has lectured in that city a number
of times and aroused the animosity of some on account of
his strictures upon Christians. The Courier-Herald
representative had a f^ moments' conversation with the
learned Buddhist [?] just before he left for the Academy,
where he was to lecture. Mr. Kananda said ifi conversation
that he was surprised at the lapses from the paths of
rectitude which were so common among Christians, but
that there was good and bad to be found among members
of all religious bodies. One statement he made was
deddedly un-American. Upon being asked if he had been

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

485

investigating our institutions, he replied: "No, I am a
preacher only.” This displayed both a want of curiosity
and narrowness, which seemed foreign to one who appeared
to be so well versed upon religious topics as did the
Buddhist[?] preacher.

From the hotel to the Academy was but a step and at
8 o'clock Rowland Connor introduced to a small audience
the lecturer, who was dressed in a long orange colored robe,
fastened by a red sash, and who wore a turban of windings
of what appeared to be a narrow shawl.

The lecturer stated at the opening that he had not.
come as a missionary, and that it was not the part of a
Buddhist to convert othen from their faiths and beliefs.
He said that the subject of his address would be, "The
Harmony of Religions”. Mr. Kananda said that many
ancient religions had been founded, and were dead and
gone.

He said that the Buddhists [Hindus] comprise two-
thirds of the race, and that the other third comprised those
of all other believers. He said that the Buddhists have no
place of future torment for men. In that they diffor from
the Christians, who will forgive a man for five minutes in
this world and condemn him to everlasting punishment in
the next. Buddha was the fint to teach the universal
brotherhood of man. It is a cardinal principle of the
Buddhist faith today. The Christian preaches it, but does
not practice its own teachings.

He instanced the condition of the Negro in the South,
who is not allowed in hotels nor to ride in the same cars
widi white men, and is a being to whom no decent man
will speak. He said that be had been in the South, and
spoke from his knowle^ and observation.

•486 . SWAMI VIVEKANANOA'8 WORKS

AN evening with OUR HINDU COUSINS
(Northampton Daily Herald, April 16, 1894) .

For Swami Vive Kananda proved omdusively that all
our neighbon across the water, even the remotest, are our
close cousins differing only a trifle in color, language,
customs and religion, the silver-tongued Hindu monk
prefacing his address in city hall Saturday evening[April 14]
by an historic sketch of the origin of his own and aU other
leading nations of the earth which demonstrated the truth
that race-kinship is more of a simple fact than many know
or always care to admit.

The informal address that followed regarding some of
the customs of the Hindu people was more of the nature
of a pleasant parlor talk, expressed with the easy freedom
oi the conversational adept, and . to those of his hearers
possessing a natural and cultivated interest in the subject
both the man and his thou|^t were intensely interesting
for more reasons than can be given here. But to others the
speaker was disappointing in not covering a larger scope
in his word-pictures, the address, although extremely
lengthy for the American lecture-platform, referring to
very few of the “customs and manners" of the peculiar
people considered, and of whose personal, dvil, home,
social and religious life much more would have been gladly
beard from this one of the finest representatives of this
oldest df races, which the average student oi human nature
should find predninently interesting but really knows the
least about.

The allusions to the life of the Hindu b^n with
a picture of the birth of the Hindu boy, his introduction
to educational training; his marriage, slight xderence to the
home life but not what was expected, the speaker diverging
frequently to make comparative comments cm the customs
and ideas of his own and English-speaking races, sodally.
morally and religiously, the inference in all cases bring

REFORTSr IN AlffilLICAK MEVraPAPEltS ;

dcAdjr ia favor of hit owa, althoufl^ mott oourteoudy,
fciadly and gracefully eapiessed. Sooae of Us auditon aiio
ate tolei^y iwdl post^ as to social and family conditimna"
UBong t&e Hindoos of all classes would have liked 40 have
asked the q)eaker a challmiging question or two on a good
many of the pointt he touched , upon. For instence, when
he so eloquendy and beautifully pmtrayed the Hindu idea
of womanhood as the divine motherhood ideal, to be forever
reverenced, even worshipped widi a devotioin of loyalty
such as the most woman^especting unselfidi and truest of
American sons, husbands and fathen cannot even conceive
of, one would have liked to know what the reply would
have been to the query as to how far this beautiful thewy
is exemplified in practice in the majority of Hindu homes,
which hold wives, mothers, daughters and sisters.

The rebuke to the greed for gain, the national vice of
» luxury-seeking, sdf-seelung the “dollar-caste” sentiment
which taints the dominant, white European and American
races to their mortal danger, morally and civilly, was only
too just and superbly well-put, the slow, soft, quiet,
unimpassioned musical voi<x embodying its thought with
all the power and fire of the most vehement physical
utterance, and went straight to the mark like the "Ihou
art the man” of the prophet. But when this learned Hindu
nobleman by birth, nature and culture attempts to prove —
as he repeatedly did in his frequent, and apparently half-
unconscious digressions from the special point under
condderation — that the distinctively self-centred, self-
cultivating, preeminently self-soulsaving, negative and
passive, not to say selfishly indolast religion ci his race has
proven itself superiw in its usefulness to the world to the
vitally aggressive, self-forgetful, dogood unto-others-fint*
latt-and-always, go-ye-into<dl-the-wotld and work religiott
wUdi we call Christianity, in whose name nine tenths of
all the really practical nuNail, spiritual and philanthnqtic
work of the world has been and it being don^ whatever

488

SWAMI VIVEJCANANOA’S WORKS

sad and gross mistakes have been made by its unwise
zealots, he attempts a large contract.

But to see and hear Swami Vive Kananda is an oppw-
tunity which no intelligent fair-minded American ought to
miss if one cares to see a shining light of the very finest
product of the mental, moral and spiritual culture of a race
which reckons its age by thousands where we count ours
by hundreds and is richly worth the study of every mind.

Sunday afternoon [April 15] the distinguished Hindu
spoke to the students of Smith college at the vesper service,
the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man being,
virtually, his theme, and that the address made a deep
impression is evinced by the report of every auditor, the
broadest liberality of true religious sentiment and precept
characterizing the whole trend of thought.

/ THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF INDIA
(Boston Herald, May 15, 1894)

Association Hall was crowded with ladies ynterday, to
hear Swami Vivekananda, the Brahmin* Monk talk about
*The Religion of India” [actually "The Manners and
Customs of India”], for the benefit of the ward 16 day
nursery [actually, Tyler-street Day Nursery]. The Brahmin
monk has become a fad in Boston, as he was in Chicago
litst year, and his earnest, honest, cultured manner has won
many friends for him.

The Hindoo nation is not given to marriage, he said,
not because we are women haters, but because our rdigion
teaches us to worship women. The Hindoo is taught to see
in every woman his mother, and no man wants to marry his
mother. God is- mother to us. We don’t care anything

' Meaning Hindn. — PubUdur.

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEW^APERS

about God in heaven ; it is mother to us. We consider
marri^ a low vulgar state, and if a man does marry, it is
because he needs a helpmate for religion.

You say we ill-treat our women. What nation in the
world has not ill-treated its women? In Europe or America
a man can marry a woman for money, and. after capturing
her dollars, can kick her out In India, on the contrary,
when a woman marries for money, her children are con-
sidered slaves, according to our teaching, and when a rich
man marries, his money passes into the hands of his wife,
so that he would be scarcely likely to turn the keeper of
his money out of doors.

You say we are heathens, we are uneducated, un-
cultivated, but we laugh in our sleeves at your want of
refinement in telling us such things. With us, quality and
birth make caste, not money. No amount of money can do
anything for you in India. In caste the poorest is as good as
the richest, and that is one of the most beautiful things
about it.

Money has made warfare in the world, and caused
Christians to trample on each other’s necks. Jealousy,
hatred and avariciousness are bom of money-getters. Here
it is all work, hustle and bustle. Caste saves a man from
all this. It makes it possible for a man to live with less
money, and it brings work to all. The man of caste has
time to think of his souli and that is What we want in the
society of India.

The Brahmin is bora to wonhip God, and the higher
his caste, the greater his social restrictions are. Caste has
kept us alive as a nation, and while it has many defects, it
has many more advantages.

Mr. Vivekananda described the universities and
colleges of India, both ancient and modern, notably the one
at Benares, that has 20,000 students and professors.

When you judge my religion, he continued, you take it
duit yours is perfect and mine wrong; and when you

490 SWAMl VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

critidie the society of liuiia you suj^tose it to be uficultmeii
just so far as it does not conform to your standard. That is
nonsense.

In reference to the matter of education, the q^eaher
said that the educated men (rf India become prc^essors,
while the less educated become priests.

THE RELIGIONS OF INDIA
(Boston Herald, May 17, 1894)

The Brahmin monk, Swami Vivdcananda, lectured
yesterday afternoon in Association Hall on "The Religions
of India", in aid oi the Ward 16 Day Nursery. There was
a large attendance.

The speaker first gave an account of the Mahonuned-
ans, who formed, he said, one>fifth of the population.
They believed in both Old aiul New Testaments, but Jesus
Christ they regarded only as a pr(q>het. They had no
church organization, though there «ras reading of the Koran.

The Parsecs, another race, called their sacred bocdi the
Zend-Avesta, and believed in two warring deities, Armuzd
the good and Ahriman die evil. They believed that finally
the good would triumph over the evil. Their moral code
was summed up in the words: "Good thought, good words,
good deeds."

The Hindus proper looked up to the Vedas at their
religious scripture. They hdd eadi individual to the
customs of caste, but gave him full liberty to think for
himself in religious matters. A part of thdr method was
to seek out some holy man at prophet in order to take
advantage of the spiritual current that flowed tlmnigbM»*

The Hindus had three diflerentsdmols of rdig^onn-^
dualistic, the qualified numistic and themoi^tic--and these

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491

three were regarded as stages through which each individual
naturally passed in the course of his religious development.

All three believed in God, but the duallstic schocd
believed that God and man were separate entities, while the
monistic declared that there was only one existence in the
universe, this unitary existence being neither God nor soul,
but scnnething beyond.

The lecturer quoted from the Vedas to show the
character the Hindu religion, and declared that, to find
God, one must search one’s own heart.

Religion did not consist of pamphlets or books ; it
consisted of looking into the human heart, and finding
there the truths of God and immortality. “Whomsoever 1
like,” said the Vedas, “him I create a prophet,” and to be a
prophet was all there was of religion.

The speaker brought his lecture to a close by giving
an account of the Jains, who show remarkable kindness to
dumb animals, and whose moral law is summed up in the
words: “Not to injure others is the highest good.”

SECTS AND DOCTRINES IN INDIA
(Harvard Crimson, May 17, 1894)

Swami Vivekananda, the Hindoo monk, gave an
address last evening in Sever Hall under the auspices of
the Harvard Religious Union. The address was very
intcsesting, the dear and eloquent voice of the speaker, and
his low, earnest delivery making his words singularly
impressive.

There are various sects and doctrines in India, said
Vivekananda, some of which accept the theory of a personal
God, and others whidi bdieve that God and the universe
are one ; bat whatever sect the Hindoo belongs to he does

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498

SWAMl >^VEKANAra>A’S WOXIS

not say that his is the only ri{^ belief, and Uuut all otheia
must be wrong. He believes that there are many ways of
coming to God; that^a man who is truly religious rises
above the petty quarrels of sects or creed. In India if a
man believes that he is a spirit, a soul, and not a body, then
he is said to have religion and not till then.

To become a monk in India it is necessary to lose ^
thought of the body; to look upon other human beings as
souls. So monks can never marry. Two vow^ are taken
when a man becomes a monk, poverty and chastity. He is
not allowed to receive or possess any money whatever. The
first ceremony to be performed on joining the order is to
be burnt in eflSgy, which supposed to destroy once for all
the old body, name and caste. The man then receives a new
name, and is allowed to go forth and preach or travd, but
must take no money for what he does.

LESS DOCTRINE AND MORE BREAD
{Baltimore American, October 15, 1894)

The Lyceum Theater was crowded last night at the
first of a series of meetings by the Vrooman Brothers. The
subject discussed was "Dynamic Religion'*.

Swami Vivdiananda, the high piriest [ ? ] from India,
was the last speaker. He spoke briefly, and was listened to
with marked attention. His English and his mode of
delivery were excellent. There is a foreign accent to his
syllables, but not enough to prevent him from being plainly
nndexstood. He was dressed in the cottnme of his native
vdiich was decidedly picturesque. Hesaidheonild
^>eak but briefly after the oratory that had preceded him,
Iwt he could add his endtnsemrat to all diat had been said.
He had travded a great deal, and fneached to' aU kipids oi

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pec^le. He had found diat the particular kind of doctrine
preached made little diffeience. What is wanted is practical
sort of .work. If such ideas could not be carried out> he
would lose his faith in humanity. The cry all over the
world is “less doctrine and more bread”. He thought the
sending of missionaries to India all right; he had no
objections to offer, but he thought it would be better to
send fewer men and more money. So far as India was
concerned, she had religious doctrine to spare. Living up
to the dcxtiines was needed more than more doctrines. The
people of India, as well as the people all over the world,
had been taught to pray, but prayer with the lips was not
enough ; people should pray with their hearts. ”A few
people in the world,” he said, "really try to do good.
Others look on and applaud, and think that they them-
selves have done great good. Life is love, arid when a man
ceases to do good to others, he is dead spiritually.”

On Sunday evening next Swami Vivekananda will
make the address ot the evening at the Lyceum.

(Sun, October 15, 1894)

Vivekananda sat on the stage last night with imper-
turbable stolidity until it came his turn to speak. Then his
manner changed and he spoke with force and feeling. He
followed the Vrooman brothers and said there was little to
add to what had been said save his, testimony as a "man
from the Antipodes”.

"We have doctrines enot^h, ‘ he continued. "*What we
want now is practical wcnk as presented in these speeches.
When asked about the missionaries sent to India I reply all
right. But we want money more and men less. India has
bushds full of doctrines and to spare. What is wanted, is
the means to carry diem out

“Prayer may be done in diffment ways. Prayer with
the hands is yet higher' than prayer with die lips and is
more saving.

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SWAMl VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

*'A11 religions teach us to do good for our brothers.
Doing good is nothing extraordinary — it is the only way to
live. Everything in nature tends to expansion for life and
contraction for death. It is the same in religion. Do good
by helping others without ulterior motives. The moment
this ceases contraction and death follow.”

THE REUGION OF BUDDHA
{Morning Herald, October 22/ 1894)

An audience which filled the Lyceum Theatre
[Baltimore] from pit to dome assembled last night at the
second of the series of meetings held by the Vrooman
Brothers in the interest of “Dynamic Religion”. Fully 3,000
persons were present. Addresses were made by the Rev.
Hiram Vrooman, Rev. Walter Vrooman and Rev. Swarri
Vivekananda, the Brahmin High Priest now visiting this
city. The speakers of the evening were seated on the stage,
the Rev. Vivekananda being an object of particular interest
to all. He wore a yellow turban and a red robe tied in at
the wute [sic] with a sash of the same color, which added
to the Oriental cast of his features and invested him with a
peculiar interest. His personality seemed to be the feature
of the evening. His address was delivered in an easy,
unembarrassed manner, his diction being perfect and his
accent similar to that of a cultured member of the Latin
race familiar with the English language. He said in part:

TOE HIGH PRIEST SPEAKS

"Buddha began to found the religion of India 600 years
before the birth of Christ. He found the religion of India
at that time mainly engaged in eternal discussions upon the

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m

nature of the human soul There was no remedy aocindiiq;
to the ideas then prevailing for the cure ot religious ills
but sacrifices of animals, sacrificial altan and similar
methods.

“In the midst of this system a priest [?] was born who
was a member of one of the leading families who was the
founder of Buddhism^ His was, in the first place, not the
founding of a new religion, but a movement of reformation.
He believed in the good of aU. His religion, as formulated
by him, consisted of the discovery of three things: First,
*rhere is an evil’ ; second, ‘What is the cause of this evil?*
This he ascribed to the desires of men to be superior to
otliers, an evil that could be cured by unselfishness. Third,
'This evil is curable by becoming unselfish’. Force, he
concluded, could not cure it ; dirt cannot wash dirt; hate
cannot cure hate.

"This was the basis of his religion. So long as society
tries to cure human selfishness by laws and institutions
whose aim is to force others to do good to their neighbors,
nothing can be done. The rmedy is not to place trick
against trick and force against force. The only remedy is
in making unselfish men and women. You may enact laws
to cure present evils, but they will be of no avail.

"Buddha found in India too much talking about God
and His essence and .too little work. He always insisted
upon this fundamental outh, that we are to be pure and
holy, and that we are to help others to be holy also. He
believed that man must go to work and help othen ; find
his soul in others ; find his life in others. He believed that
in the conjunction of doing good to others is the only good
we do ourselves, [sic] He believed that there was always in
the world too much theory and too little practice. A dozen
Buddhas in India at the present time would do good, and
one Buddha in this country would also be beneficial.

“When there is too much doctrine, too much belief
in my father’s religion, too much rational superstition, a

496

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

change is needed. Such doctrine produces evil, and a re*
formation is necessary.”

At the conclusion o£ Mr. Vivekananda’s address there
was a hearty burst of applause.

{Baltimore American, October 22, 1894)

The Lyceum Theater was crowded to the doors last
night at the second meeting the series conducted by the
Vrooman brother^ on ‘'Dynamic Religion”. Swami Viveka-
nanda, of India, made the principal address. He spoke cm
the Buddhist religion, and told the evils which existed
among the people of India, at the time of the birth
Buddha. The sOdal inequalities in India, he said, were at
that period a thousand times greater than anywhere else in
the world. “Six hundred yeaw before Christ," he continued,
"the priesthood of India exercised great influence over the
minds of the people, and between > the upper and nether
millstone of intellectuality and learning the people were
ground. Buddhism, which is the religion of more than
two-third of the human family, was not founded as an
entirely new religion, but ratha as a reformation which
carried off the corruption of ,the times. Buddha seems to
have been the only prophet who did everything for others
and absolutely nothing for himself. He gave up his home
and all the enjoyments of life to spend his days in search
of the medicine for the terrible disease of human misery.
In an 4ge when men and priests were discussing the essence
of the deity, he discovered what people had overlooked,
that misery existed. The cause of evil is our desire to be
superior to others and our selfishness. The .moment that
the world becomes unselfish all evil will vanish. So long as
society tries to cure evil by laws and institutions, evil will
not be cured. The world has tried this method ineffeaually
for thousands ttf years. Force ^inst force never cures, and
the only cure for evil is unselfohness. We need to *«»»»<■**
people to obey the laws rather than to nudee more laws.

KEPORTS IN AMEMCAM NEWtf Ams 407

BaddhInB wai tlw fim missioBary teUf^ion of the worid
but it ms one of the teadiings of Buddhism not to antq^
<mtee any othor rd%ion. Sects weaken their power tor
good by making war on eadi other.”

ALL RBUGIONS ARE GOOD
{Washington Post, October 29, 1894)

Mr. Kananda spoke yesterday at the People’s Church
on the invitaticm of Dr. Kent, pastor of the ^urch. His
talk in the mtnning was a regular sermon, dealing entirely
with the spiritual side of religion, and presenting the, to
orthodox sects, rather original propositicm- that there is
good in the foundation of evory religion, that all rdigions,
like languages, ate descended fr<sn a common stock, and
that each is good in its corporal and spiritual aspects so long
as it is kept free from dogma and fossilism. The address in
the afternoon was mote in the form of a lecture on the
Aryan race, and traced the descent of the various allied
nationalities by their language, religion and customs from
the common Sanduit stodi.

After the meeting, to a Post reporter Mr. Kananda
said: ”1 claim no a^ation with igny rd^ous sect, but
occupy the position of an observer, and so far as I may, of a
teacher to mankind. All religion to me is good. About the
higher mysteries of life and existence 1 can do no more
than speculate, as odien do. Reincarnation seems to me
to be neumt to a logical explanation for many things
with vdiich we are confoonted in the realm of religion. But
I do not advance it at a doctrine. It is no more than a
thccny at best, and is not susceptible of proof except by
personal experience, and that protrf is go^ only tor the
man who has it. Your experience it nothing to me, nor

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SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

mine to you. I am not a bdliever in noiiraclea— they are
repugnant to me in matters of religicm. You mif^t brii^
the world tumbling down about my ears; but that would
be no proof to me that there was a God, or that you worked
by his agency, if there was one.

HE BEUEVES IT BLINDLY

"I must, however, believe in a past and a hereafter as
necessary to the existence the present. And if we go on
&x>m here, we must go in other forms, and so comes my
belief in reincarnation. But I can prove nothing, and any
one is welcome to deprive me the theory of reincarnation
provided they will show me something better to replace it.
Only up to the present 1 have found nothing that offers so
satisfactory an explanation to me.”

Mr. Kananda is a native of Calcutta, and a graduate of
the government university there. He speaks English like
a native, having received his university training in that
tongue. He has had good opportunity to observe the
contact between the native and the English, and it would
disappoint a foreign missionary worker to hear him speak
in very unconcerned style of the attempts to convert the
natives. In this connection be was asked what effect the
Western teaching was having on the thought of the Orient.

"Of course,” he said, "no thought of any sort can ctane
into a Vxiuntry without having its effect, but the effect of
Christian teaching on Oriental thought is, if it exists, so
small as to be imperceptible. The Western doctrines have
made about as much impression there as have the Eastern
doctrines here, perhaps not so much. That is, among the
higher thinkers of the country. The effect of the mission-
ary work among the masses is imperceptible. When converts
are made they of course drop at once out of the native sects,
but the mass of the populatitm is so great that the converts
of the missionaries have very little eSea diat can be seen."

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THE YOGIS ARE JUGGLERS

When asked whether he knew anything of the alleged
miraculous performances of the yogis and adepts Mr.
Kananda replied that he was not interested in miracles,
and that while there were of course a great many clever
jugglers in the country, their performances were tricks.
Mr. Kananda said that he had seen the mango trick but
once, and then by a fakir on a small scale. He held the
same view about the alleged attainments of the lamas.
"There is a great lack of trained, scientific, and
unprejudiced observers in all accounts of these phenomena,"
said he, "so that it is hard to select the false from the true."

THE HINDU VIEW OF LIFE-
{Brooklyn Times, December SI, 1894)

The Brooklyn Ethical Association, at the Pouch Gallery
last night, tendered a reception to Swami Vivekananda. . . .
Previous to the reception the distinguished visitor delivered
a remarkably interesting lecture on "The Religions of
India". Among other things he said:

“The Hindoo’s view of life is that we are here to learn;
the whole happiness of life is to leaj-n ; the human soul
is here to love learning and get experience. I am able
to read my Bible better by your Bible, and you will learn
to read your Bible the better by my Bible. If there is but
one religion to be true, all the rest must be true. The
same truth has manifested itself in different forms, and the
forms are according to the different circumstances of the
physical or mental nature of the different nations.

"If matter and its transformation answer for all that
we have, there is no necessity for supposing the existence
of a soul. But it can [not] be proven that thought has been

500

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

evolved out of matter. We can not deny that bodies
inherit certain tendencies, but those tendencies only mean
the physical configuration through which a peculiar mind
alone can act in a peculiar way. These peculiar tendencies
ill that soul have been caused by past actions. A soul with
a certain tendency will take birth in a body which is the
fittest instrument for the display of that tendency, by the
laws of affinity. And this is in peifect accord with science,
for science wants to explain everything by habit, and habit
is got through repetitions. So these repetitions are also
necessary to ^plain the natural habits of a new>bom soul.
They were not got in this present life ; therefore, they must
have come down from past lives.

"All religions are so many stages. Eadi one of them
represents the stage through which the human soul passes
to realize God. Ther^ore, not one of them should be
neglected. None of the suges are dangerous or bad. They
are good. Just as a child becomes a young man, and a
young man becomes an old man, so they are travelling from
truth to truth ; they become dangerous only when they
become rigid, and will not move further — ^when he ceases
to grow. If the child refuses to become an old man, then
he is diseased, but if they steadily grow, each step will lead
them onward until they reach the whole truth. Therefore,
we believe in both a personal and impersonal God, and at
the same time we believe in all the religions that were, all
the religions that are, and all the religions that will be
in the world. We also believe we ought not only tolerate
these religions, but to accept them.

“In the material physical world, expansion is life, and
contraction is death. Whatever ceases to expand ceases to
live. Tratidating this in the moral world we have: If one
would expand, he must love, and when he ceases to love he
dies. It is your nature ; you must, because that is the tmly
law of life. Therefore, we must love God for love’s s^, so
we ipust do our duty for duty's sake ; we must woik for

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work's sake without lookii^ for any reward — ^know that
you aie puier and more perf^ know that this is the teal
temple of God."

{Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December SI, 1894)

After referring to the views of the Mohammedans, the
Buddhists and other religious schools of India, the speaker
said that the Hindoos received their religion through the
revelations of the Vedas, who teach that creation is without
beginning or end. They teach that man is a spirit living in
a body. The body will die, but the man will not. The
spirit will go on living. The soul was not created from
nothing for creation means a combination and that means
a certain future dissolution. If then the soul was created
it must die. Therefore, it was not created. He might be
asked how it is that we do not remember anything of our
past lives. This could be easily explained. Consciousness
is the name only of the surface of the mental ocean, and
within its depths are stored up all our experiences. The
desire was to find out something that was stable. The mind,,
the body, all nature, in fact, is changing. This question of
finding something that was infinite had long been discussed.
One school of which the modem Buddhists are the
representatives, teach that everything that could not be
solved by the five senses was nonexistent. That every object
is dependent upon all others, that it is a delusion that
man is an independent entity. The idealists, on the other
hand, claim that each individual is aft independent body.
The true solution of this problem is that nature is a
mixture of dependence and independence, of reality and
idealism. , There is a dependence which is proved by the
fact that the movements ol our bodies are controlled by
our minds, and our minds are controlled by the spirit
within us, which Christians call the soul. Death is but
a change. Those who have passed beyemd and are occupy-
ing high positions there are but the same as those who

UtasirpeNm

P oiRr tahnA PubUO LibtMR

S02

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

remain here, and those who are occupying lower positions
there are the same as others here. Every human being is
a perfect being. If we sit down in the dark and lament that
it is so dark it will profit us nothing, but if we procure
matches and strike a light, the darkness goes out
immediately. So, if we sit down and lament that our bodies
are imperfect, that our souls are imperfect, we are not
profited. When we call in the light of reason, then this
darkness of doubt will disappear. The object of life is to
learn. Christians can learn from the Hindus, and the
Hindus from Christians. He could read his Bible better
after reading ours. “Tell your children,” he said, “that
religion is a positive something, and not a negative
something. It is not the teachings of men, but a growth,
a development of something higher within our nature
that seeks outlet. Every child bom into the world is bom
with a certain accumulated experience. The idea of
independence which possesses us shows there is something
in us besides mind and body. The body and mind are
dependent. The soul that animates us is an independent
factor that creates this wish for freedom. If we are not
free how can we hope to make the world good or perfect?
We hold that we are makers of ourselves, that what we have
we make ourselves. We have made it and we can unmake
it. We believe in God, the Father of us all, the Creator and
Preserver of His children, omnipresent and omnipotent.
We believe in a personal God, as you do, but we go further.
We befieve that we are He. We believe in all the religions
that have gone before, in all that now exist and in all
that are to come. The Hindu bows down to the all religion
[sic] for in this world the idea is addition, not subtraction.
We would make up a bouquet of all beautiful colors for
God, the Creator, who is a personal God. We must love
God for love’s sake, we must do our duty to Him for duty’s
sake, and must work for Him for work’s sake and must
worship Him for wmship's sake.

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"Books aie good but they are only maps. - Reading n
bo<di by direction a man I read that so many indies of
rain fdl during the year. Then he told me to take the book
and squeeze it between my hands. I did so and not a
drop of water came from it. It was the idea only that the
book conveyed. So we can get good from books, from the
temple, from the church, from anything, so long as it leads
us onward and upward. Sacrifices, genuflections, rumblings
and mutterings are not religion. They are all good if they
help us to come to a perception of the perfection which we
shall realize when we come face to face with Christ. These
are words or instructions to us by which we may profit.
Columbus, when he discovered this continen‘1, went back
and told his countrymen that he had found the new world.
They would not believe him, or some would not, and he
told them to go and search for themselves. So with us, we
read these truths and come in and find the truths for our-
selves and then we have a belief which no one can take
from us.”

After the lecture an opportunity was given tliose
present to question the speaker on any point on which
they wished to have his views. Many of them availed
themselves of this offer.^

IDEALS OF WOMANHOOD
»

{Brooklyn Standard Union, January 21, 1895)

Swami Vivckananda, after being presented to the
audience by Dr. Janes, president of the Ethical Association,
said in part:

"The product of the slums of any nation cannot be the
criterion of our judgment of that nation. One may collect

' See Complete Works, Vol. V. in the Section, ‘'Questiont and
Answers”.

S04

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA'S WORKS

the rotten, wonn-eaten apples under every apple tree in the
world, and write a bocdt about each of them, and still know
nothing o( the beauty and possibilities of the apjde tree.
Only in the highest and best can we judge a nation — ^the
fallen are a race by themselves. Thus it is not only fHroper,
but just and right, to judge a custom by its best, by its ideal.

“The ideal ot womanhood centres in the Arian race of
India, the most ancient in the world's history. In that race,
men and women were priests, ‘sabatimini [saha-dharmini],’
or co-religionists, as the Vedas call them. There every family
had its hearth or altar, on which, at the time of the
wedding, the marriage fire was kindled, which was kept
alive, until dther spouse died, when the funeral pile was
lighted from its spark. There man and wife together
offered their sacrifices, and this idea was carried so far that
a man could not even pray alone, because it was held that
he was only half a being, for that reason no unmarried
man could become a priest. The same held true in ancient
Rome and Greece.

"But with the advent of a distinct and separate priest-
class, the co-priesthood of the woman in all these nations
steps back. First it was the Assyrian race, coming of Semitic
blood, which proclaimed the doctrine that girls have no
voice, and no right, even when married. The Persians
drank deep of this Babylonian idea, and by them it was
carried to Rome and to Greece, and everywhere woman
<legenmted.

"Another cause was instrumental in bringing this
about — the change in the system of marriage. The earliest
system was a matriarchal one ; that is, one in which the
mother was the .centre, and in whidi the girls acceded to
her station. This led to the curious system of Ae
P^ianders [polyandrous], where five and' six brothen
often married one wife. Even the Vedas contain a trace
of it in the provision, that when a man died without leav-
ing any children, his widow was permitted to live with

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another man, until rite became a mother ; but the children
she bore did not bdong to thdr {Mher, but to her dead
husband. In later yean the widow was sdlowed to marry
again, which the modem idea forbids her to do.

"But side by tide with these excrescences a very
intense idea of personal purity sprang up in the nation.
On every page the Vedas preach personal purity. The laws
in this respect were extremely strict. Every boy and girl
was sent to the univenity, where they studied until their
twentieth or thirtieth year; there the least impurity was
punished almost cruelly. This idea of personal purity has
imprinted itself deeply into die very heart of the race,
amounting almost to a mania. The most conspicuous
example of it is to be found in the capture of Chito
[Chitor] by the Mohammedans. The men defended the
town against tremendous odds ; and when the women saw
that defeat was inevitable they lit a monstrous fire on the
market place, and when the enemy broke down the gates
74,500 women jumped on the huge funeral pile and
perished in the flames. This noble example has been
handed down in India to the present time, when every
letter bears the words '74,500,’ which means that any one
who unlawfully reads the letter, thereby becomes guilty
of a crime similar to the one which drove those noble
women of Chito to their death.

"The next peiiod is that of the monks ; it came with
the advent of Buddhism, which taught* that only the monks
could reach the 'nirvana’, something similar to the
Christian heaven. The result was that all India became
one huge monastery ; there was but one object, one battle
— to'remain pure. All the blame was cast onto women,
and even the proverbs warned against them. 'What is the
gate to hell?’ was one of them, to which the answer was:
'Woman’. Another read: 'What is the <bain which binds
us all to dust?. Woman*. Another one: 'Who is the
blindest of the blind? He who is deceived by woman.’

506

SWAMI VIVEKAN^OA'S WORKS

"The same idea is to be found in the dtmters of the
West. The development of all monasticism always meant
the degeneration of women.

"But eventually imother idea of womanhood arose.
Ip the West it found its ideal in the wife, in India in the
mother. But do not think that the priests were altogeher
responsible for this change. I know they always lay daim
to everything in the world and I say this, although I am
myself a priest. I’ll bend my knees to every prophet in
every religion and dime, but candor compels me to say,
that here, in the West the development of women was
brought about by men like John Stuart Mill and the
revolutionary French philosophers. Religion has done
something, no doubt, but not all. Why, in Asia Minor,
Christian bishops to this day keep a harem I

"The Christian ideal is that which is found in the
Anglo-Saxon race. The Mohammedan woman differs vastly
from her western sisters in so far as her sodal and intd*
lectual development is not so pronounced. But do not,
on that account, think that the Mohammedan woman is
unhappy, because it is not so. In India woman has enjoyed
property rights since thousands of years. Here a man may
disinherit his wife, in India the whole estate of the deceased
husband must go to the wife, personal property absolutely,
real property for life.

"In India the mother is the centre of the family and
our highest ideal. She is to us the representative of God,
as God is the mother of the Universe. It was a female sage
who first found the unity of God, and laid down this
doctrine in one of the first hymns of the Vedas. Our God
is both personal and absolute, the absolute is male, the
personal, female. And thus it comes that we now sayt
*The first manifestation of God is the hand that itxks the
cradle.' He is of the ’arian’ race, who is born through
prayer, and he is a nonarian, who is bom through
sensuality.

807

■ RUPOKn IN AlHeiUCAN NEWSPAPERS

• -

**l!1us doctiiiie o£ pronttal influence is now dowly
being recognized, and sdenoe as wdl as religion calls out:
'Keq> yourself ludy, and pure.’ So de^y has this been
recognized in India* that there we even sp^ of adultery
in marriage, except when marriage is donsummated in
prayer. And I and every good Hindoo believe, that my
mother was jnire and holy, and hence I owe her everything
that I am. That is the secret of the race— chastity.”

TRUE BUDDHISM

{Brooklyn Standard Union, February 4, 1895)

Swaini Vivckananda, being presented by Dr. Janes, the
president of the Ethical Association, under whose auspices
these lectures are given, said in part: “The Hindoo
occupies a unique position towards Buddhism. Like
Christ, who antagonized the Jews, Buddha antagonized the
prevailing religion of India ; but while Christ was rejected
by his countrymen, Buddha was accepted as God Incarnate.
He denounced the priestcraft at the very doors of their
templqi, yet to^ay he is worshipped by them.

"Not, however, the creed which bears his name! What
Buddha taught, the Hindoo bdieves, but what the
Buddhists teach, we do not accepu For the teachings of
the Great Master, spread out broadcast ovor the land, came
back in tradition, colored by the channels through which
they passed. *

“In order to understand Buddhism fully we must go-
back to the mother religion from which it came. The
books of Veda have two parts ; the first, Cura makanda
[Karma Kanda], contains the sacrificial portion, while the
second part, the Vedsuita, denounces sacrifices, teaching
charity and love, but not death. Each sea took up what
U-8S

506 SWAMl VIVEKANANOA’S WORKS

portion it liked. The charvaka, or materialist, basing his
doctrine on the first part, believed Uiat all was matter and
that there is neither a heaven nor a hdl, neither a soul
nor a God. The second sect, the Gains [Jains], were very
moral atheists, who, while rejecting the idea ol a God,
believed that there is a soul, striving for more perfect
development. These two sects were called the heretics. A
third sect was called orthodox, because it accepted the
Vedas, although it denied the existence of a personal God,
believing that everything sprang from the atom or nature.

"Thus the intellectual world was divided before Buddha
came. But for a correct understanding of his religion, it
is also necessary to speak of the caste then existing.
The Vedas teach that he who knows God is a Brahma
[Br&hmin] ; he who protects his fellows is a Chocta
[Kshatriya], while he who gains his livelihood in trade is
a Visha [Vaishyaj. These different social diversions
[divisions] developed or degenerated into iron-bound casts
[castes], and an organized and crystallized priestcraft stood
upon the neck of the nation. At this time Buddha was
born, and his religion is therefore the culmination of an
attempt at a religious and a social reformation.

"The air was full of the din of discussion ; 20,000
blind priests were trying to lead 20,000,000 [?] blind men,
fighting amongst themselves. What was more needed at
that time than for a Buddha to preach? 'Stop quarreling,
throw your books aside, be perfect I ’ Buddlia never fought
true ckstes, for they are nothing but the congregation of
those of a particular natural tendency, and they are always
valuable. But Buddha fought the degenerated castes with
their hereditary privileges, and spoke to the Brahmins:
‘True Brahmins are not greedy, nor criminal nor angry—
aie-you such? If not, do not mimic the genuine, real men.
Ca$te is a state, not an iron-bound class, and everyone who
knows and loves God is a true Brahmin.’ And with regard
to the sacrifices, he said: 'Where do the Vedas say that

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS SOS

sacrifices make us pure? They may please, ^haps, the
ai^ls, but they make us no better. Hence, let off these
mummeries — ^love God and strive to be perfect.’

’In later years these doctrines of Buddha were for*
gotten. Going to lands yet unprepared for the reception
of these noble truths, they came back tainted with the
foibles of these nations. Thus the Nihilists arose — a sect
whose doctrine it was that the whole universe, God and
soul, had no basis, but that everything is continually
changing. They believed in nothing but the enjoyment
of the moment, which eventually resulted in the most
revolting oigies. That, however, is not the doctrine of
Buddha, but a horrible degeneration of it, and honor to
the Hindoo nation, who stood up and drove it out.

“Every one of Buddha’s teachings is founded in the
Vedantas. He was one of those monks who wanted to
bring out the truths, hidden in those books and in the
forest monasteries. I do not believe that the world is
ready for them even now ; it still wants those lower
religions, which teach of a personal God. Because of this,
the original Buddhism could not hold the popular mind,
until it took up the modifications, which were reflected
back from Thibet and the Tartars. Original Buddhism
was not at all nihilistic. It was but an attempt to combat
cast and priestcraft ; it was the first in the world to stand
as champion of the dumb animals, the first to break down
the caste, standii^ between man and man.’’

Swami Vivekananda concluded his lecture with the
presentation of a few pictures from the life of Buddha, the
“great cme, who never thought a thought and never per-
formed a deed except for the good of others ; who had the
greatest intellect and heart, taking in all mankind and all
the animals, all embracing, ready to give up his life for the
highest angels as well as for the lowest worm.’’ He first
showed how Buddha, for the purpose of saving a herd trf
sheep, intended for a king’s sacrifice, had thrown himself

SIO SWAMl VIVEKANANIM’S WORKS

upon the altar, and thus accomplished his purpose. He.
next pictured how the great pn^het had parted firtun his
wife and baby at the cry suffering maidiind, and' how,
lastly, after his teachings had been universally accented in
India, he accepted Uie invitation ot a despised Pari^, who
dined him on swine's flesh, from the effects of which he
died.

INDIA’S GIFT TO THE WORLD

{Brooklyn Standard Union, February 27, 1895)

Swami Vivekananda, the Hindoo monk, delivered a
lecture Monday night under the auspices of the Brooklyn
Ethical Association before a fairly large audience at the
hall of the Long Island Historical Society, comer Pierrepont
and Clinton streets. His subject was "India’s Gift to the
World".

He spoke of the wondrous beauties of his native land,
“where stood the earliest cradle of ethics, arts, sciences, and
literature, and the integrity of whose sons and the virtue of
whose daughters have been sung by all travelers." ’Then
the lecturer showed in rapid details, what India has given
to the world.

“fn religion,” he said, “she has exerted a great influence
on Christianity, as the very teachings of Christ would [could]'
be traced back to those of Buddha." He showed by quota-
tions from the works of European and American scientists
the many points of similarity between Buddha and Christ.
The latter’s birth, his s^usion fhun the wtnld, the number
ol his apostles, and the very ethics of his teachings are the
same as th<»e of Buddha, living many hundred yean before
him.

"Is it mere diance," the lecturer asked, “or was

{

REKATS in AMmCAN NEWSPAVERS pU

but the tottOudawwg of thatofChritt?
m majtmty ^ your thinker. «em to be satisfied in the

^t Ctostiamty is the direct oibpring of Buddhism just u

rMa^‘*“ ^ «ligion-the Moiedan

t amchaew] herety~.i8 now univetsaUy regarded as the

fi, ^ ^ But there is mote evidence

that Chrisuanity is founded in Buddhism. We find it in
te^dy discovered inscriptions^ from the reign of Emperor
^oka [Afoka] of India, about SOO B.C.. who made tteaties
with all the Greaan kings, and whose missionaries dis-
criminated [disseminated?] in those very part^ where.

flourished, the principles of the
Bud^istic religion. Thus it is explained, why you have
our doctrine of trinity, of incarnation of God. and of our
ethio, and why the service in our temples is so much alike
to that in your present Catholic chuiches,dtom the man to
tte chant and benediction. Buddhism 'had aU these long
before you. Now use your own judgment on these premises
we Hindoos stand ready to be convinced that yours is the
earlier religion, although we had ours some three hundred
years before yours was even thought of.

'T^e same holds good with respect to sciences. India
has given to antiquity the eariiest scientifical physicians,
and. according to Sir Wdliam Hunter, she has even con-
tnbuted to modem medical science by the discovery of
vanous chemicals and by teaching you how to reform
misshapen ears and noses. Even mote it has done in
mathematics, for algebra, geometry, astronomy, and the
mumph of modem sdence—mlxed madiematics— were all
invented in India, just so much as the ten numerab, the
very ct^erstone of all presmt civilization, were discovered
m and are in reality, Sanskrit wonls.

“In philosophy we ate even now head and shoulders
a^ any other nation, as Sdu^liauer, the great German
philosopher, has confessed. In music India gave to the

512

SWAMI VIVEKANAMDA’S WORKS

world her system of notation, with the seven cardinal notes
and the diatonic scale, all of which we enjoyed as early
as 350 B.C., while it came to Europe only in the eleventh
century. In philology, our Sanskrit langprage is now
universally admowledged to be the foundation . -of all
European languages, which, in fact, are nothing but
jargonized Sanskrit.

“In literature, our epics and poems and dramas rank
as high as those of anyk language ; our 'Shaguntala'
[5haAun(a/a] was summarized by Germany’s greatest poet,
as ’heaven and earth united*. India has given to the world
the fables of Aesop, which were copied by Aesop from an
old Sanskrit book ; it has given the Arabian Nights, yes,
even the story of Cinderella and the Bean Stalks. In
manufacture, India was the first to make cotton and purple
[dye], it was proficient in all works of jewelry, and the very
word ‘sugar’, as<well as the article itself, is the product of
India. Lastly she has invented the game of chess and the
cards and the dice. So great, in fact, was the superiority
of India in every respect, that it drew to her borders the
hungry cohorts of Europe, and thereby indirectly brought
about the discovery of America.

"And now, what has the world given to India in return
for all that? Nothing but nullification [vilification] and
curse and contempt. The world waded in her children’s
life-blood, it reduced India to poverty and her sons and
daughters to slavery, and now it adds insult to injury by
preaching to. her a religion which can only thrive on the
destruction of every other religion. But India is not afraid.
It does not beg for mercy at the hands of any nation. Our
only fault is that we cannot fight to conquer ; but we trust
in the eternity of truth. India’s message to the world is
first of all, her blessing ; she is returning good for the evil
which is done her, and thus she puts into execution this
noble idea, which had its origin in India. Lastly, India’s
message is, that calm goodness, patience and gentleness will

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS

SIS

ultimately triumffb. For where are the Greeks, the one-
time mafters the earth? They are gone. Where are
the Rmnans, at the tramp of whose cohorts the world
trembled? Passed away. Where are the Arabs, who in
fifty years had carried their banners from the Atlantic to
the Pacific? and where are the Spaniards, the cruel
murderers df millions of men ? Both races are nearly
extinct ; but thanks to the morality of her children, the
kinder race will never perish, and she will yet see the hour
of her triumph.”

At the close of the lecture, which was warmly
applauded, Swami Vivekananda answered a number of
questions in regard to the customs of India. He denied
positively the truth of the statement published in yesterday’s
[February 2h] Standard Union, to the effect that widows
are ill-treated in India. The law guarantees her not only
her own property, before marriage, but also all she received
from her husband, at whose death, if there be no direct
heirs, the property goes to her. Widows seldom marry in
India, because of the scarcity of men. He also stated that
the self-sacrifices of wives at the death of their husbands
as well as the fanatical self-destruction under the wheels of
the Juggernaut, have wholly stopped, and referred his
hearers for proof to Sir William Hunter’s “History of the
Indian Empire".

CHILD WIDOWS OF INDIA

{Daily Eagle, February 27, 1895)

Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu monk, lectured in
Historical hall Monday night under the auspices of the
Brooklyn Ethical association, on "India’s Gift to the
World”. There were about two hundred and fifty people

914 SWAMl VmaMiAmK’^ wcnits

in the hall when the Swami stepped <» the platfoini. Mu<ft
interest was manifested on acooimt the deniid hjr
Mn. James McKeen, president of the Broddyn RamabaJ
ciide, which is interested in Qiristian work in India* of
the statement attributed to the lecture that the diild
widows of India were not protected [ill<treated]. In no
part of his lecture was reference made to this denial, but
after he had concluded, one of the audience asked the
lecturer what explanation he had to make to the statement.
Swami Vivekananda said that it was untrue diat child
widows vftte abused or ill treated in any way. He added:

"It is a fact that some Hindus marry very young.
Others marry when they have attained a fair age and some
do not marry at all. My grandfather was married when
quite a child. My father when he was 14 yean old and I
am so yean old and am not yet married. When a husband
dies all his possessions go to his widow. If a widow is poor
she is the same as poor widows in any other country. Old
men sometimes marry children, but if the husband was
wealthy it was all the better for the widow the sooner he
died. I have travded all over India, but failed to see a
case of the ill treatment mentioned. At one time there
were religious fanatia, widows, who threw themselves into
a fire and were cmisomed by the flames at the death of
their husbands. The Hindus did not believe in this, but
did not prevent it, and it was not until the British ob-
tained control of India that it was finally prohibited. These
women were considered saints and in many instances
monuments wete erected to their memory.”

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS
SOME CUSTOMS OF THE HINDUS
(Brooklyn Standard Union, April 8, 1895)

A special oieeting ot the BrooUyn Ethical Associaticm.
with an addre» by Swami Vivekananda, the Hindu monk,
as the main featuK, was held at the Poudi Gallery, on
Clinton avenue, last night. "Some customs ot the Hindus ;
what they mean, and how they are misinterpreted," was the
subject treated. A large throng people filled the spacious
gallery.

Dressed in bis Oriental costume, his eyes bright, and a
flush mantling his face, Swami Vivekananda started to tell
of his people; of his country, and its customs. He desired
only that justice be shown to him and to his. In the begin-
ning of his discourse he said he would give a general idea
of India. He said it was not a country hut a continent ;
that erroneous ideas had been promulgated by travellers
who had never seen the country. He said that there were
nine separate languages spoken and over 100 different
dialects. He spoke severely oi those who wrote about his
country, and said their brains were addled by superstition,
and that they had an idea that everyone outside of the
pale of their own religion was a horrible blackguard. One
oi the custmns that had often been misinterpreted was the
brushing of the teeth by the Hindus. They never put hair
or skin in their mouths, but use a^ plant. "Hence a man
wrote," said the speaker, "riiat the Hindus get up early in
the morning and iswallow a plant." He said the [custom
of widows throwing themselves under the] car 'of jugger-
naut did not exist, never had, and that no one knew how
such a story started.

Swami Vivekananda’s taUt on caste was most ccunpre-
hensiw and interesting. He said it was not a granted
{graded] system of dasses, but that eadt caste thought itsdf
to be superior to all the others. He said it was a trade guild
and not a rd^oua institution. He said that it had been

516

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

in existence from time immemorial, and explained how at
first only certain rigfhts were hereditary, but how afterward
the ties were bound closer, and intermarriage and eating
and drinking were restricted to each caste.

The speaker told of the effect that the mere presence
of a Christian or Mohammedan would have on a Hindu
household. He said that it was veritable pollution for a
white man to step into a Hindu’s presence, and that after
receiving one outside of his religion, the Hindu always
took a bath.

The Hindu monk abused [ ? ] the order of the Pariahs
roundly, saying they did all the menial work, ate carrion
and were the scavengers. He also said that the people who
wrote books on India came only into contact with these
people, and not with genuine Hindus. He described the
trial of one who broke the rules of caste, and said that the
only punishment inflicted was the refusal of the particular
caste to intermarry or drink or eat with him or his
children. All other ideas were erroneous.

In explaining the defects of caste, the speaker said
that in preventing competition it produced stagnation, and
completely blocked the progress of the people. He said
that in taking away brutality it stopped social improve-
ments. In checking competition it increased population.
In its favor, he said, were the facts that it was the only ideal
of equality and fraternity. That money had nothing to do
with social standing in the caste. All were equal. He Said
that the I fault of all the great reformers was that they
thought caste was due only to religious representation,
instead of ascribing it to the right source, namely, the
curious social conditions. He spoke very bitterly of the
attempts of the English and Mohammedans to civilize the
country by the bayonet and fire and sword. He said that
to abolish caste one must chan^ the social conditions
completely and destroy the entire eomomic system of the
coun^. Better, he said, that the waves of the [Bay

REPORTS IN AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS 517

Bengal flow and drown' all rather than this. Englidt
civilization was composed of the three “B’s” — ^Bible,
bayonet, and brandy. “That is dvilization, and it has been
carried to such an extent that the average income of a
Hindu is 50 cents a month. Russia is outside, saying,
‘Let’s civilize a little,’ and England goes on and on.’’

The monk grew excited as he walked up and down,
talking rapidly about the way the Hindus had been treated.
He scored the foreign educated Hindus, and described their
return to their native land, ’’full of champagne and new
ideas”. He said that child-marriage was bad, because the
West said so, and that the mother-in-law could torture
her daughter-in-law with impunity, as the son could not
interfere. He said that the foreignen took every oppor-
tunity to abuse the heathen, because they had so many
evils of their own that they wanted to cover them up. He
said that each nation must work out its own salvation, and
that no one else could solve its problems.

. In speaking of India’s benefactors he asked whether
America had ever heard of David Herr [Hare], who estab-
lished the first college for women, and who had devoted so
much of his life to education.

The speaker gave a number of Indian proverbs that
were not at all complimentary to the English. In closing
he made an earnest appeal for his land. He said:

”It matters not as long as India is true to herself and
to her religion. But a blow has been struck a( her heart by
this awful godless West when she sends hypocrisy and
atheism into her midst. Instead of sending bushels of
abuses, carloads of vituperation and shiploads of condem-
nations, let an endless stream of love go forth. Let us all
be men I”

INDEX

Absolute^ 99, 117, 286, 276» 402.
404, 457*59 ; happineas, 166-67;
and manifestation, 180-48 ;
Reality, 82 : and univetse,
887-89

Action, not of 'the .Soul, 476
Activity and Calmness, 292-98
Adam, 72, 178, 194
Ada Record, 477
Adhy&sa, 488

AdvaiU (non-duality), 105, 180,
188-85, 187. 288. 247-58, 255,
276, 848-47, 850, 858, 452,
461-62 ; denies none, 258 ;
'Forest Philosophy*, 188 ; God
in, 184-85 ; non-destructive,

' 141 ; prayer, 857 ; saved India,
138-39: and scientists, 138; on
substance and quality. 848-45
Aesop^s Fables, 151, 512
Africa, 861-62
Age of Truth, 72
Agnostics, 188, 181, 186, 281,
342; and enjoyment, 102-08,
133 ; on substance and quality,
882

Agnosticism, 484

AhamkAra (see egoism), 88, 488
Ahriman, 198, 490
AkAsha, 32, 289-40, 265-70, 328,
485-86, 488
Alexandria, 884, 455
Alexandrian School, 445
Algebra, 20, 511
AllAh, 144, 321

America, 28, 58, 100, 189, 142,
186, ^1, 512, 517 ; treatment
of women in, 489
American(s), 479, 487, 488 ;

Indian, 871 ; newspapers,
reports in, 475-517 ; press, 477
fn. ; scientists, 510
Ancestor worship, 57-58, 127
Anthropomorphism, 142, 155-56
Apah (liQuefaction), 486
Arabia, 166, 814 ; Prophet of,
852-58 ^

Arab(s), 518
Arabian Nights, 512
Arabic, 10

Arjuna. 86. 290, 296
Armucd, 490

Arnold, Sir Edwin, 155
Art, 510
Aruni, 291

AryOjan, 107, 176, 482, 497, 504;
aemiition of, 506 ; Asiatic,
159 ; literature, 58 ; their wor-
ship, 59
Ascetic, 25
Asia, 159, 241, 862
Asiatic, 861 ; excels in preaching,
862

Afoka, 511
Assyrian, 504
Astronomy, 511
Atheism, 517

Athei8t(s), 114, 188, 143, 285, 294,
301. 868, 508; all are, 164; and
reason, 386 ; religious and
materialist, 44-45
Atman (see self), 77, 85, 158, 168,
288, 288-58, 802, 822, 409, 416-
22, 425, 486, 438; bondage and
freedom of, 254-68 ; and love,
416*17 ; nature of, 78-79, 169-
70 ; one, 275 ; speculation
about, 77-79

Atomist, 240; and SAnkhya, 442
Attachment, cause of mtse^, 2-8,
6; and detachment, 8-4; power
of, 4; source of pleasure, 8
Authority and reason, 386
Avyakta (see nature), 488

B's, the three, 517
Babylonians, 58, 78, 504
Baltimore, *494; American, 492,
496

Bean Stalks, story of, 512
Benares, 489
Bengal, 517

Bhakti (see devotion), 88-58;
Icad^ beyond sects, 52 ; su-
preme, 51-52; 'Yoga, 892-94;
-Yogi, 888

Bhutas (see matter), 485
Bible, 41, 169, 194, 326, 884, 368,
874, 474, 499, 502, 517
Birdi» how soul takes, 270, SH-
IS; a superstition, 81, 294
Blessedness, way to, 406-15

520

SWAMI VIVEXANANDA’S WORKS

Body (see Sharira). SO. 2S3, 256,
267-68. 270. 274. 281-82. S44.
SSO. 409, 412, 42S-25, 455. 501.
^ 502; according to Buddhists.
272-7S; fall of and assumption
of. 269-70. S49; gross and fine
(spiritual). 214-16, 268, S48.
4£)-25, 456; and soul. 345.
348; universal, 440
Bondage, a delusion, 199; and
freedom. 469-70
Book (s). '503, 508
Boston, 479; Herald, 488, 490
Brahmaloka. 184, 269-71, 277, 281
BrahmS, 269

Brahman, 144, 231. 254. 274. 310-
14. 318, 409, 412, 422. 461; as
goal, 185;. knowledge in and
through, 133, 138; and Nir-
vana, 195; and universe. 258-59
BrAhmanas (of Vedas). 60, 89.
184

Br3hmin(s). 11. 114, 158, 309,
406-07, 416-17; born to worship
God, 489; definition of. 508
Breathing, 24, 29, 454-55; exer-
cises (see Pr5ndy5ma), 36;
object of. 30

Brooklyn. Daily Eagle, 501 ;
Ethical Association. 499, 503.
510, 515; Ramabai Circle. 514;
Standard Union, 503, 507, 510,
513, 515; Times, 499
Buddha, 36, 42, 50. 61. 74, 92.
114, 143, 174, 209, 231, 323,
352-53, 374, 386, 469. 473, 484,
485, 494^ 507-11 ; basis of his
religion. 495-96 ; India's con-
dition at the time of, 495-96 ;
religion of, 494-97 ; his heart,
140, 143, 307. 509-10; -man,
75 ; preached Advaita, 138-39 ;
proof of, 307

Buddhi (tec intellect), 266. 410,
423, 438, 456

Buddhism, 481, 484, 505 ; Chris-
tianity, and Hinduism, 510-11 ;
iu defect. 346-47 ; degeneration
of, 139, first missionary reli-
gion, 497 : not a new religion,
but a reformation movement.
495-96, 508, 511 ; true, 507-10
Buddhist. 38, 114, 138, 194-95.
209, 238, 274, 335. 362-63. 374.
478, 482, 485, 501, 507; and
MdyA, 89; on moral sense, 61;
and non-killing, 244 ; philos-
ophy of change, 271-74. 342;

Buddhist — Contd.
on soul. 60-61. 197, 271-73
331, 341, 343 ; Southern sect
of, .60-61 ; on substance and
quality, 332, 341-42, 345 ; and
will, 446

Caaba. 39
Calcutta, 479, 498
Caste. 309, 508, 515, 516 ; birth
and quality make caste, 489 ;
system, 481

Catholic(s) (see Roman Catholic),
364. 480

Causation. 130-31, 261, 455 ; soul
beyond. 196, 234-35
Cause and effect. 1. 15, 205, 317,
345, 425-26. 429, 455; as de-
generation and regeneration,
206-07; not different, 205-06,
228-29. 245 ; SAnkhya on. 343-
44; wave movement of, 206, 208
Ceylon. 482 ; a story by its
Governor, 21

Change and unchangeable, 272-
78. 280. 332-33, 338, 342, 344-
45. 402, 404
Chaos, 207
Character. 255, 357
Chariot. 409
Charms. 20
Chftrv5kas. 114-15. 508
Chastity, 100-01, 179, 507 ; is life
of a nation, 101
Chess. 512

Chh5ndog)'a Upanishad, 189, 309,
328, 472 fn.

Chicago. 230, 260, 479
Child-marriage. 100-01, 517
China. 28. 58, 384, 482
Chinese, 73 ; ancestor worship,
basis of their religion, 58; sage,
Confucius, 64
Chit, 450-51
Chitor. 505

Chitta. 233, 438, 447, 454
Christ (sec Jesus). 25, 27, 44, 50,
74. 151, 174. 209. 231, 353, 386,
474, 478, 481, 490, 494, 496.
503, 507, 510, 511 ; crucified,

5 : as God and demon, 34 ;
•man, IS ; proof of. 307 : reli-

f :ion of, 483; and renunciation,
00; his teachings for dualists
and non-dualists, 142-43, 353
Christian(s), 42, 60, 164, 169,
195, 214, 353, 361-63, 371. 373.

nmx

521

GhrlstiiiifiV-CdfKd.

378<80, m, m, 472, 450-85,
489-498, 502, 505, 510-11, 510;
tMtflB of oloiality, 554-55; Uidt
centnl idear-watch and pray,
572; heaven, 516; miidonariet,
481; nations, 485; Sacrament,
579

Christianity, 95, 562, 564, 426;
Buddhism, and Hindu religion,
487-88, 510-11; older forms of,
41; older religions foreshadow,
42-45

Church, 59, 52, 555, 574; be bom
in but not die in, 59; Presbyte-
rian, 481; Roman Catholic,
481, 484, 511
Cinderella, story of, 512
Civilisation, 212, 479, 511; origin
and spread of, ’ 27-28; its
upward and downward move,
27-28

Clergyman, 42, 142, 181
Columbus, 505
Common Prayer, 29
Comtists, 542

Concentration of mind, 29, 590-91
Confudus, 64

Connor, Htm. Rowland, 482, 485
Conscious, 446-47, 449-50
Conadousness, 55, 550, 540, 451,
501; fundamental facts of, 458;
of *1 am’, 52; replaced by sub-
conscious, 55; universal, 440
Conservation, theory of, 480
Cmitraction, is death, 494, 500
Cosmic, energy is God, 211, 254;
God, 252: Intelligence, 251;
life, 228-29; mind, 267; plan
of SSnkhya, 545
Cosmology, 452-41
Cosmos. ^-25, 529,. 545, 460
Creation (see cosnadogy), 211,
455-41, in cydesJfSg, 245,
246, 264, 427, 454, 480; is Lord
Himself, 211; its meaning,
268; out of nothing, 551, 427-
28; lu Western idea, 245-46
Creator, 75, 104, 169, 185, 255,
245, 248, 550, 554, 562, 579, 428
Crucl&x, 574
Customs of nations, 101
Cycles (see creation), 459, 454

Daily Eagle, 515
Daily Tfibune, 479
Dak’Mndmurttsloiram, 475 fn.
Darwin, 28, 74

Death, 92-95, 514-15; according
to Vedanta, 268; and begin-
ning of rdigicm, 70-71; is a
change, 477, 501; contraction is,
494, 500; and life, not different,
177; knowledge leads beyond,
104; soul’s movement after,
269: a superstition, 51, 294;
(see Yama), 407
Dusarte, 455
Deluge, story of 72-75
Dduskm, (see M5y5), 280, 525
Democratic ideas. 190
Design theory,* 210
Desire, 149, 557, 408 ; cause of
evolution, 556; cause of misery,
4, 147; cessation of, 412; creat-
ed by existence of external
things, 44-45; to be happy, 71;
never satisBed, 100; sif^ of
Imperfection, 261-62: in Scho-
pmhauer’s philosophy, 445
Destiny (see nite)

Detachment, 2 ; and attachment,
5-4

Detroit, 479
Deussen, 258

Deva(8) (see gods), 105, 107-08,
410; -deva, 110; -y2na, 269-
71, 514-15

Devil, 8-9. 142, 195, 202; and
religion, 199

Devouon (see Bhakti), external
forms of, 45 ; universal, 58
Dhy4na, 57

Dream, source of religion, 59-60
Dualism, 192, 199, 201, 268, 415,
415, 429-50, 464-65 ; accepted by
Advaica, 547-48; ideas of, 548-
50; its outcome— sectarianism,
fear, 6ght, 522

Dualist(s), 55, 141-45, 192, 198,
200, 240-66, 555 ; their escha-
tology. ^5-77 : their prayer,
245 ; sects, 244 ; theorim un-
satisfying, 158

Dualisuc, soul, 546, 490, 491 ;

theory, 469; Vedanta, 541
Duty, for duty's sake, 500, 502

East and West. 185-86
Eastern, 498
Ecstasy. 60

Education (see teacher), in an-
cient India, 509 ; and develop-
ment cf personality, 16 ; man-

522

SWAM! VtVEKANANDA'S WORKS

Education — Contd.
making, ideal of, 15 : of
masses, 26>27

Effect, (see cause and effect).
Ego, ISS. 424, 46d
Egoism (see AhaiOkAra), 4S8, 446,
452 ; universal, 446, 444 ; and
will, 446

Egyptian(s), 58, 78 ; their idea of
souls, 58 ; mummies, 882
Ends and means, 1,9; in GitS,
1-2

Energy (see force), 13, 849 : law
of conservation of, 209, 427
England, 25-27. 94, 99. 517 ;
marriage in, 101; social freedom
and religious restriction in, 114
English, 816, .85.1, 486; -man,
24, 101, 510 ; philosophers,
99-100, workmen and their
wages, 26

Enjoyment, 100, 408, 421
Environment, 136-87, 446
Epics, 512

Eschatology, 814 ; threefold, 268-
77

Ethical ideas, 108
Ethical systems, derived from
utility, religion and spiritual-
ity, 64: misuke of, 83
Ethics (see morality), 83, 178, 800,
805-06, 465, 484, 510 ; its back-
ground — renunciation, self-
abnegation, 62-68, 83 ; iu basis,
334-85; its central idea-— doiim
good, 82; explanation for, 25^
its ideal— destruction of in-
dividuality, 62-68, 88; relative,
24-25: sanction for, 82-83; iu
supernatural sanction, 63; iu
use, 98-99; utilitarian standard
Of. 63

Euphrates, 361

Eumpe.^24, 132. 139, 241, 384,
341-42, 361. 384, 433, 445, 455,
479, 512; treatment of women
in, 489

European, 487 ; mind, 115;
language, 512: nations, 140;
philosophers, 220, 441, 447;
scientists, 90, 510
Evil, (see good and evil), 85. 192-
93; automatic doing of, 83-84;
iu cause, 242, 355-56: conquest
through subjective change, 137-
38; .elimination through evolu-
tion, 178; God the way of
escape from, 144; iu idea

Evil-^nfd. ** ■

-grows, 106; misdiiecied pcuvet
of good, 854; removal 17»
287; utility of, 147; , why we
86C S937 927

EvoludOtt,* 74-75, 107, 178-75, 178,
207-08, 227-81, 845-46, 859, 427,
455, 478; eliminates evil, 95-97;

§ resupposes involution, 221*
theory of, 186-87; and
unselfishness, 854
Existence, 148, 202, 402, 404, 414^
457-59, 461-02; basis of, 478;
"^interdependence of, 899; one,
286; real. 82

Expansion, is life, 494, 500

Fables, parables and anecdotes:
Brahman who produced fruits
and flowers, 11; Brothers who
drank wine secretly, 879-80;
Clergyman and fatherless
youth, 181 ; Disciple who want-
ed to see God, 45; Girl and
gravitation, 78-79; Girl float-
ing in the air, 21 ; Krishna
and N8rada, 120-21; Light and
forging, 51; Lion cub among
sheep, 86; Lover knocking at
the door, 326; Man who caught
a crocodile to cross a river, 86;
Man who mistook heart-beat
for knocks at door, 401; Man
who reads thoughu, 10; Manu
and the fish, 73; Millionaire
of Rome oommiu suicide,
165; Nachiketas, 157, 406-10;
Ogresses with souls in birds,
370; Sage and dispute about
God, 43-44; Sage and b^-
ging emperor, 47-48; Sage and
emperor, 84; Sage who said
*^Shivoham*' from tiger^s
mouth, 198; Satyakflma, 809-
11; Sinking American vessels,
851 ; Stag and iU reflection,
151; Stump of tree seen vari-
ously, 87; Swami and Moham-
medan Mutineer, 85; Thief
and gold in the next room, 46;
Two birds on a tree, 894-95:
Upakosala KamaUyana, 811-12
Faith, 162, 165; In ourselves, 299
Fanaticism, 101, 116, 870, 877
Fate (destiny, fbrtun^, 182, 823,
825; man makes his, 2112, 224,
242

INDEX

52S

Fear, how removed, 40S*04, 414-1$
Ferria Wheel, 230, 260
Feti^iam, 383
Fillipinot, 364
Finite, ia pl^y, 471
Force, (see PrOna), 232, 380, 420:
action and xeaction of, 373;
and matter, 32, 76-77, 254,
256, 436; non-destruction of,
228-31; three— Sattva, Itajas,
Tamai, 433-34

Form(8), 229, 231, 255-56, 268;
given by intellect, 338; dve
rise to cause and efftet, 545;
and names, (see name and
form); and symbols, 46-47;
their periodical recurrence,
260 61.

Fortune (see fate)

Freedom 251, 256, 322-25. 462,
481, 602; all religions advanc-
ing towards, 125; all struggling
towards, 103, 125-27,^3 ;

religious and social, 114-15;
sciences are built on, 116;
search for, 400-01; of soul, 189-
202, 282, 477; within you,
128, 196, 350, 401, 469-70
French, 25

Candharva, 184
Canga, 29, 72, 104, 361
German, 11, 26, 238; philoso-
phers, 448; philosophy of In-
finite becoming finite, 99; idii-
losophy of progress, 172-73
Germany, 99, 512
Ghosts, 28, 270, 277, 303
Git5. 189, 292; on detachment,
2; on fruition of Yoga, 36: on
work, 1-2
Gnostic, 445, 455
Goal, the, 463 ff. ; pleasure as,
468

God(s), 4, 8, 103, 127, 153, 160,
212, {50, 269-71, 278-79, 336,
407. 416-17; of Death (see
Yama). 158, 407-08; evolution
of, 107-10; of Fire, 72;
place to God, 191, 401; man
creates, 325; path of (see
DevayOna); are names of states
and positions, 176, 243; tribal,
109

God. 57, 74, 81-82, 108, 124,
140-43, 155-56, 169, 171, 173-74,
178, 181, 185-87. 192-93, 213

<Mr--Contd»

224-25, 228, 259, 267, 269, 278-
79, 282, 286-87, 297, 308, 322-
27, 349, 357, 359, 363, 366-67,
869, 372-74, 878, 381, 383-84,
387-88, 591-96, 400-01; 404, 413-
14, 425, 434, 450, 460 68, 470-
74, 478-80, 491-92, 600. 508-09;
according to Advaita, 248-
53 ; according to dualists, 240-
42; according to qualified non-
dualists, 245-47; according to
SInkhya, 439, 457; all is, 320-
21; all rushing towards, 102;
anthropomorphic ideas of, 155-
56 ; as centre of attraction,
244-45; as cosmic ener^ (see
cosmic); as cosmic intelfi^nce,
210 ; as creator, 330, 428,
434, 481, 502; defined. 33;
desire for 45-46; dispute about,
43-44; as destroyer, 481; as effi-
cient and material cause, 245-
46, 248; essence of self, 133; as
eternal subject, 134; in every-
thing, 144-54; and evil, 112-13,
241, 447; evolution of ideas of,
105-17, 400-01; evolves as uni-
verse, 208-11, 427-30, 491; as
father, mother, friend, beloved,
326, 488, 502, 506; as Free-
dom, 102-04; has no desire, 261-
62; humanity moving towards,
41, 383; Impersonal, 117, 139,
191, 538, 500, 506; Kingdom
of, 37; knowable and unknow-
able, 133-35 ; as Law or
abstract Personality, 61; love
of, 47-53, 244, 478-79; morality
based on Impersonal, 322;
omnipresent, 40, 42, 502; is
omniTOtent, 502; old idea of,
SO, 321 ; one, 138; Personal,
38, 10^04, 113, 125, 142-43,
191, 198, 202, 240, 247, 294,
330-31, 352, 491. 500, 502. 506,
508; Personal and Impersonal,
319-23, 333-34, 337-39; as pre-
server, 481, 502; propels to
seek Him, 81 ; as purest and
noblest of souls, 8; seen as im-
perfect, 449; is self, 134, 236-37.
Ml. 471 ; Soul, nature and,
422-31 ; is substratum of the
universe, 473-74; real temple
of, 501 ; tribal ideas of, €7; as
unit Abstraaion, Abstract Per-
sonality, Omnipresent Being,

524

SWAM! VIVEKABMNDA'S WQRKS

God — Contd,

Moral Law, 6l; Universe tafMrt
into, 16; unknown, 505; in
Vedanta, 128; and Vedas, 289;
as witness, 153-84, 428; His
worship, in symbols, name and
man, 42

God<, iicad, 6. 807; intoxication,
52; man, 40, 42, 209, 590;
realisation, ‘409
Golden Fleece, 93
Good, 26; need of doing, 46, 82f
101-02, 283-88; work, 314-15.
Good and evil (bad), 34-35, 271,
318, 348-50, 357, 421; accord-
ing to dualists, 243; antago-
nisms of, 107; bound together,
103, 178-80; of equal value,
102; nearer and external coat-
ing of man, 284-85; not ab-
solute, 165; not different in
kind, but degree, 127, 168, 177,
180, 420; relative, 97-98
Gravitation, 78, 119, 220, 240,
327

Greece, marriage in, 504
.Greek(s), 59, 455; ^ods, 105, 518;
their mythol<^ is nature wor-
ship, 59; their philosophy and
Kapila, 445

Growth (see progress), continu-
ous, 19; from within, 385 '
Guru, 310

Habit, first and second nature,
470

Hallucination, 195, 285, 278, 281,
414

Happiness, 4; all seek, 88;
desire for, 77; and misery,
100-01, 172; in Spirit, 83; and
unhappiness increase propor-
tionately, 95-97
Hare, Daniel. 517
Harmony, • beyond reason and
consciousness, 449
Harmony of religions, 875-77,
384

HaiTison, Frederick, 842
Harvard Crimton, 491
Harvard Religious Union, 491
Head and heart, 140, 148. 145
Heart and intellect, 806-08
Heathen, 517

Heaven, 30, 158-60, 1^-66, 176,
184, 249-51, 269, 276-79, 281,
m, 315-16, 321-^, 849, 852-58,

Heaven— -Conld.

872, 471, 508; changes wm
necessity, 166; creaidon o£ man,
278-79; dualist’s hlea o£, 248;
going and failing from, 269-71;
and hell, 299, 816-18
Hebrew, 52, 160; gods^ 105
Hell (see heaven), 471, 508; in
Vedas, 819

Help, comes from within, 87,
355-57

Hereditary transmission, 221-23,
448

Hindu(doo)(s). 21, 72-73, 85,

101, 107, 140, 184-85, 214, 289,
268-64, 815, 384-36, 861-62, 868,
378, 406, 465, 481, 483, 485-86,
490-91, 501-02, 507, 509. 514,
516-17; analytically minded,
12; ancestor worship of, 58;
belief and teachings, 478, 480;
bold thinkers, M; have no
churches, 29; highly civilised,
28; -ism, Christianity, and Bud-
dhism, 487-88, 510-11; and
English, 486-87; marriage,
100-01; philosophy, 239; idea of
punishment, 480-81 ; religion,
490-91; sects, 242; spintual
ideas, 872; studied psychologi-
cal facts, 29; thinks God is
within, 80; idea of womanhood,
487-88

History of the Indian Empire,

Hope, give up, 824
Human being, perfect, 502
Humanity, 868; continuousW
growing, 19; and equality, 880-
81; march from truth to truth
of, 865; moving towards God,
unity, 41, 188; progress and
^1 of, 18; and religion, 875-

Hunter, Sir William, 511, 518
Huxley, 28, 74, 218
Hyderabad, 11 ^

Hypnotism, 11, 86, self- 198,
248, 295, 845

I, 249-52; am eternal, 821-22;
am everything,' 414. 462; am
Existence - Knowledge - Bliss,
m, 402, 404; am G^, 282; am
It (selQ, 402-05» 415; not a be-
tivet in miracles, 496; am one

INDEX

l~^C0ntd.

beyond nattunfr, 27S; am m*
sponsible Cor fate, 2(Mf, 225; am
Spirit, 37; am the witness, 57; '
chaining and evolving, 347;
Em fact of consciousness, 32;
the real nature of, 469, 472

ld3, SO, 35

Ideal, 1, 40, 200, 370; everyone
must have, 152; ea^ projects
and worships it, 49-50; and
real, 293-98; realisation of, 295;
man seeks, 463

Idealism, 32, 89, 163, 333, 501
Idealist(s), 342
Idol, 378

Idolatry, is feature of man, 40
Ignorance, 83, 150, 167, 220, 235-
30, 254, 408, 462
Illumination, 232-33
Illusion, 251

Illustrated London News, 351
Images, 38; material and mental,
40

Immortality, 35, 81, 176, 185, 196,
226-37, 416; already attained,
350; iu fim idea through
dream, 59; its idea inherent in
man, 32

Impression (see SamskSra), 232,
266, 268, 848, 423, 425, 441,
447-48, 456

Incarna'tion(s), 228, 386, 471,
478, 511; according to Yogis,
19

India, 11-12, f\, 24, 28, 52, 75,
84, 93. 113, 138, 158-59, 164,
169, 192, 199, 203, 247, 288,
309, 328, 331, 342, 361, 368,
379, 384, 386, 388, 416, 445,
455, 478, 480-82, 484, 488-93,
495, 504-07, 511-12, 515-16; an-
cestor worship in, 58; customs
of, 513; dispute about god in,
43-44; origin and death of
sciences in, 20-21; marriage in,
504; masses of, 245; missionaries
in, 498, 498; monks in, 492:
philosophers of, 203-04, 227,
262, 265; practical application
of psychology in, 27; praai-
catity of, (see practicality); reli*
gious freedom and sQjcial super-
stition in, 114-15; religimis of,
482, 490-91, 494i 499. Ml; rdi-

f kms doctrines abundant In,
93; religious schools of, 801;

India-— Conld. <

religious thought of, 238; re-
nunciation and spirituality of,
370; sects of, 238-39, 2^-46;
Western, 281; women in, 489
lndlan(8), 193; history, 20; knew
gravitation, 20; mind, 20;
mythology, 75; and modem
philosophers, 203-04; philos-
ophy and Schopenhauer, 445-
4o; proverbs, 517; theory of
cycles (evolution and involu-
tion), 75, 227; three steps in,
religious thought, 252

Indian Ocean, 281
Individual, his rate and limit of
progress, 18-19; soul, 346-48
Individuality, 79-81, 846. 350-52,
419, 430, 467; apparent, 83;
definition of, 468; false, 468-
69; iu ideal of ethics, 63, 83;
true, 467

Indra. 88, 108, 110, 176, 325
lndriya(s), 238, 423, 437, 441,
456

Infinite, 53, 80, 83, 137, 144, 173,
176, 183, 228, 248, 305, 323,
339, 346, 419, 469; evolution of
the idea of, 57; and finite, 99,
130, 182, 397-402, 431, 463, 470.
471, 474; I am the, 471-72;
knowledge, existence, bliss,
143; its manifestation through
senses impossible 62-63; not
divisible, 414, 431 ; pursuit of,
66; never finite, 470; is real,
471 ; sought in the soul, 175;
unconscious feeling after, 897

Ingersoll, 27

Inspiration, 60, 140, 144, 389-90
Instinct, 220, 389-90, 446, 459; is
degeneration of will, 221
Intellect, • 214, 423-25, 464; as
charioteer, 409-10 ; contradic-
tion in, 93; evolution and
involution of, 209; and heart,
306-08; and life, 15, 23; limi*
tation of, 119, 398; of man
similar, 337; reacting state of
mind, 266; of $hankara, 140,
143; and spirituality, 40

Intelligence, 450-51, 454, 457-58;
cosmic (see cosmic); is re-
active, 2te; Universal, 440
Intermarriage, 516
Introspection, 165
Intuition, 459

526

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA’S WORKS

Involution, 75, 174, 207: and
evolution, 221, 227-28, 427
Islam, 571

[ab&14, .309

ain(s), 38, 238, 491, 508
anes, Dr., 503, 507
'apan, 384, 482
apancse, 45, 472
ehovah, 106-08, 110, 378
esus, (see Christ), M, 42, 148,
469, 473, 490
Jew, 482, 483, 507
Jewish, 72, 483

Jew(s). 60. 106-07, 361-62, 378;

tlie greatest, 467
Jiva (sec soul), 258, 348-49; sym-
pathy of free, 349-50
JnAna, 407 ; -Yoga, 396 ; -Yogis,
388, 393-95

J ove, 144

udge, by standard of respec-
tive greatness, 25-26 ; every
one according to his ideal ;
105-06

Judgment, day of, 39
Juggernaut, 513, 515

Kalpa (see cycle), 435-36

Kapila, 205, 440, 443, 452, 455,
460 ; denies God, 439 ; father
of philosophy, 445, 455, psy-
chology of, 439-40, 455

Karma, 269-71. 281-82, 284, 323,
348, 355, 404 ; -bhumi, 270;
-kaiida. 507; -Yoga, 391-92 :
-Yogi, 388

Katha Upanishad, 70, 155, 157-
74, 189, 474 fn.

Kent, Dr., 497

Knowledge. 194, 221, 314-15, 390-
91. 471^; contradiction in. 92 ;
defined, 132 : eternal, 153 ;
and experience, 226 ; of God,
133 ; and ignorance, 194 ; In-
finite 143 ; a limitation, 82 ;
not antagonistic to well-being,
355 ; as objectification, 134 ;
as pigeon-holing or recognis-
ing, 447-48 ; is practical, 84 ;
principles of — classification
generalisation) and explanation
from own nature, 329-30; pro-
cess of acquiring, 219-20, 423-
24, 447-49, 458 ; removes de*
lusion, 281 ; is self-fllominat-

Knowledge — Contd.
ing, 215 ; is soul, 216 ; three
instruments of-— instinct, rea-
son, inspiration, 389-90 ; of
Universal, 419; its utility, 83-
84 ; way to, 252 ; is within,
339-40

Koran, 10, 370-71, 374 ; and kill-
• ing of non-believers, 335, 352
Krishna, 36, 42, 106, 120, 292,
386, 478

Kshatriya, 416-17, 508
Kuruksnetra, 296

Lalita Vistara, 92
Lama, 499
Liberation, 510, 512
Life, 5, 31-32; clinging to, 353 ;
continuation of, 228; a con-
tradiction-existence and non-
existence, 91; cosmic, 228-29;
and death, 123, 177, 234, 291,

299; differs in de^ee, not in
kind, 297; expan^on is, 494;
its every particle must reach
God, 102; happiness of, 499;
and intellect, 15, 23; is love,
493; object of, 502; One, 303;
origin of, 89-90; and reli-
gion, 144-48; a struggle, 102-03,
152, 259; universal, 325; varia-
tion, sign of, 363; is vibration,
31, in world, 144
Light of Asia, 61
Linga Sharira (see Sharira)
Ix>ndon, 27

Long Island HistSrical Society,
510

Lotus centres, 36
Love, 3-4, 6, 304, 375-76, 459 ;
according to YSjnavalkya, 416-
18; its basis freedom, 322; of
Buddha, 140; God of, 386-88,
393; as God. 51-52, 355, 393-
94; of God, 47, 244, 393;
growth of, 109; for love's sake,
52-53, 393, 478-79, 500, 502;
madness of, 52; for man culmi-
nates in Infinite love, 53; mis-
guided, 354-55; mother's, a
bondage, 93, 120 ; as motive
power, 50-51, 355; omnipresent,
50; power of, 4: testrof— no
barguning, no fear, highest
ideal, 47-50; traders in, 4; true,
286-87; universe is a manifesta-
tion of, 50; why, 414

INDEX

527

Lubboek, Sir John, 579
Lyceum, 495; theatre, 494-95

Macrocosm, 16, 205-12, 420, 452,
449

Magic, 20-21

Magician, 25

Mahat, 265, 438, 443-46, 451-52,
454-55; individual and univer-
sal, 449

Maitreyi and Yijnavalkya, 416-22

Mamata, 83

Man, according to Advaita, 254;
apparent, 78, 81, 194 ; can
become God, S3; brotherhood
of, 485, 488; classes of —

worker, emotional, philoso-
pher, mystic. 385-88; conser-
vative, 298, 316; creates gods,
323: dc6ncd, S3; a degenera-
tion, 72-74; a degradation of
God. 173; differs because of
standpoint, 366; divinity of,
193, 463, 464, 465, 477-79; each
has a mission. 370-71; finite
and in6nite, 597-98; gets help
from inside, 324-25; goal 6t,
474; is God, 236-37; greatest
being, 271; hastening his
growth, 18-19; his inner voice
of freedom, 125-26; the highest
temple of God, 321 ; looks
beyond, 359; his lost divinity
and how to regain it, 195-96;
made on cosmic plan, 445;
maker of his destiny, life,
fortune. 182, 242, 250, 348,
350; nature of, 155, 197, 477;
nature's bond-master, 104;
nature's bond-slave, 119; per-
fect, 4, 19, 50, 388; personal
and impersonal, 191; his per-
sonality and power, 13-15;

P rogresses from truth to truth,.

55. 500 ; real, 52, 70-87, 107,
212-13; real and apparent,
263-88; real nature of, 70-87;
seeing God in woman and,
325-27; his struggle against
nature, 64-65 ; his struggle for
freedom, 126-27; his three
substances— -gross and fine
bodies and soul 425-25;
Universal Being, 79-80; and
woman, 26

Manas (see mind), 438, 454
Manichaean, 511

Mantra, 60
Manu, 73

Marriage, 100-01, 368, 504
Marseilles, 24

Masses, 259; and Advaita, 138,
247; their education, 26-27;
their religion, 59, 241, 245
Materialist, 44-45, 64, 69, 114 16.
158-59, 143, 197, 231, 303, 368,
508

Mathematics, 20, 73, 511; its
theories as working hypoth-
eses, 28

Matter (see AkAsha), 31, 32, 389,
456, 454, 477; and Atman, 77;
a delusion, 197; indestructible,
427, 443; and mind. 222-25,
444; and thought, 75-76
Max Miiiler, his Three Lectures
on the Vedanta Philosophy,
238

M^y5, 32, 179, 182, 193, 196,
254, 275-76, 318, 322, 403; as
basis of our being is contra-
diction, 97; and evolution of
conception of God, 105-17; and
Freedom, 118-29, 283; and

illusion, 88-105; not admitted
by all, 192; a statement of
facts, 94, 97, 105, 112; time,
space in, 177; and {ime, space
and causation, 135-56; two
ways out of it—practical wis-
dom, religion, 121-24; -v4din,
195; in Vedic literature, 88-90
McKeen, Mrs. James, 514
Me and mine, 244
Means and end (see end and
means)

Meditation (see Dhy5na)
Memory, 269; as proof of per-
sonal identity, 342-43
Mercy and God-realisation, 409
Metaphysics, 31, 140, 186, 234,
263, 355, 358, 432-33; subject
and object in, 137
Microcosm, 16, 212-25, 420, 432:
and macrocosm on same plan,
449

Mill, John Stuart, 337, 506
MimAmsakas, 239
Mind, 31, 182, 214-17, 232-55
255-57, 265-69, 274, 281, 423-
25, 437-38, 441, 450, 456, 458,
477, 501, 502; Buddhist concep-
tion of, 272-75; its concentra-
tion, 29; continually changes,
79; continuity of, 15; control

OiWuru«m

528

SWAMI VIVERANAKDA^S WORKS

Mind— Contcf.

over own and other’a, 17;
Cosmic, 267; four classes of,
585-88; grades of, 575; groping,
212; Indian 2Q; individual and
universal, 15, 17, 469; its

limitation, 90-91; is material,
455; and matter, 222-25, 444;
multiform and multisided, 25;
powers of. 10-24, 587; a prison-
house, 122; science of, 19, 22-
25 ; stages of, 60; states of, 61,
587; study of, 19; time, space
and causation in, 78, 461; iypes
of 187; universal, 17, 440
Mirage, 281-82

Misery, 195, 242-45, 414-15, 418;
from attachment, 57; its cause,
2-5, 85-84, 198, 599; desire is
father of, 4; and happiness
increase proportionately, 95-97;
never undeserved, 7; subjec-
tive, 157-58
Mohammed, 469, 478
Mohammedan(s), 38-39, 85, 164
194, 321, 553, 361-63, 571. 575-
74, 380, 472, 482, 485, 490,
501, 505, 516; heaven, 516, 552-
53; and killing of inhdels, 535;
with Koran and sword, 369-70;
symbols and rituals of, 39
Mohammedanism, its excellence
is brotherhood, 371
Monastic order, 568 .

Monism (see Advaita), for all,
199-200; embraces all partial
conceptions, 537, 539; on

strength and morality, 201; on
noumenon and phenomenon,
332-33; its standpoint, 534;
defined, 463

Monistic (see Advaita), 199-200,
238, Si2, 490, 491 ; theory most
rational, 537

Monotheism, 117, 128; its diffi-
culty. 530-31

Morality (see ethics), based on
Impersonal God, 522; Code of
purity and, 484; foundation of,
553; meaning of, 137; and
metaphysics 355; is path to
freedom, 141; and religion, 17;
and selfishness, 352
Mormon. 568
Morning Herald, 494
Moses, 74
Mutiny of 1857, 85
Mystic, 586-88 ,

Mythology. 59, 72, 7il, 78, 105.
195, 279, 577-78, 582-85, 592-99

Nachiketas 157, 159-61, 406-10
NaiyAyikas, 259

N4ma-rupa (see name and form)
Name and form, 41-42, 112, 156,
248-49, 274-76, 283, 515-16,. 461
Name, worship of, 41-42
N&rada, 121, 528
Nation(s), 93. 300, 585; each has
a mission, 371; are joining, 188
National religion, 551, 577
Nature, 19, 128, 159, 198, 203-05,
398-400, 454-57. 465-66, 501,
508; according to Advaita, 249-
55; according to dualists, 240;
according to qualified dualists,
246-47; as body of God, 192-
93; demands us to give up, 5;
it enjoys us. 2; forces us to
give, 5; internal and external,
65 ; ^ laws of, 485; • man is
bond-master of, 104; man is
bond-slave of, 119; a mass of
change, 273; is M2yd, 105; not
the goal, 64-65; and soul, 457;
Soul, God and, 422-31; traiis-
Tigurcd into gods, 212; is uni-
form, 228-29, 242; it veils, 82,
wants us to react, 6
Negro(es), 371, 485; their free-
dom, 26
Nero, 481

Nerve, 16, 85, 232, 265; currents,
30; -centre (see organ); system,
177

Newkirk, Dr. C. T., 480
New Testament, 27, 151, 194, 335,
490

New York, 51, 364, 479
Nihilists. 71-72. 509
NirvAna, 505; same as Brahman,
. 195

Nivritti (turning inward), 108,
411

Non-Aryan, definition of, 506
Non-dualism (see Advaita), 268,
275-74, 549
Non-killiqg, 244
Norwegian, 166 '

Noumenon and phenomenon,
352, 558, 544

Occidental (see Western), 432-55
Occult, 29-50

I

INIXEX

829

Odtn.

Old Tettament. 78, 196, 194, 810.
490

Om. 167. 409

Optimism, 92, 97. 146, 179-80,

Onpin (see Indriya), 215-14, 265-
67, &-24. 457-38. 444, 452.
455-56; automatic. 35
Oriental (see Eastern), 432-33; 498

Palmer. Mr., 479
PanchiUas, 291
Pariah. 516
Paris, 25
Parsee(s). 490
Patanjali. 27-29
Patriotism, 877
People's Church, 497
Perfection, end of human prog-
ress. 18
Persia, 361

Pcrsian(s), gods, 105, 482, 504;
idea of two Cods, 180; story,
826

Personal, identity, 343; magnet-
ism, 14

Personality, 828,. 839, 386; cause
of success and failure, 14-15;
laws of development of, 16;
in leaders of mankind, 14-15
Pessimism, 92, 179-80
Pessimists, 6-7, 94, 97; their
hearts dead, 7
Phallus, 878-79
Philology, 512

Philosopher(8), 191-92. 886-88.

394, 438; European (.see Euro-
pean); German, 448; Indian
and modern, 208-04; intuitive.
132: modern. 233; and religious
teachers, 15

Philosophy. 72-74, 78. 103, 125,
166, 185-86. 271, 280, 282, 284.
803, 807, 846, 886-88, 406, 419,
441, 455, 511; follows practice,
817; the goal of, 472; aind
poikrv. 140; and religion, 377.
382-83; and soul. 197; and
superstition, 125
Physical laws, 16; cannot ex-
plain personality, 15
PingaJA, 80, 35
Pitnydna, 269-71, 814-15
Planes of existence, 276, 367; of
vision, 81
Plato. 140, 455

neasure, 2, 121-22; and pain,
113, 177, 469; search fior, 119;
struggle for ihOnite, 62
Polygamy. 368
Pope, 2l8
Positivists. 342

Power, all in the Spirit, 21; One
and gross, 16-17; of fre^m,
127; of mind (see mind): of
nature, 128; psychical, 12; of
reading past and future, 261;
of religion, 57; seat of, 16-17;
struggle for inOnite, 62; of
suffering and doing, 26; utility
of control over fine, 17
Practical, Hindu, 185-86; and
ideal, 291-93; life. 123, 199;
people, 144: spirituality, hints
on, 24-37; Vedanu (MV), 291-
358; wisdom, 122
Practicality, of India and West,
24, 29, 185-87

Prakrit! (see nature), 433, 442-43,
451, 455, 460; changes in, 460
Pralaya, 434

PrAna, 32, 89, 238, 256, 264-68,
328-30, 424, 485-36, 438, 454;
its control, 81; all movements
—electricity, magnetism,
thought — are manifestations of,
80, 33, 240; is one, 81; its
rhythm cures disease, 31
Pr4n4y3ma, 455; as rhythmic
action of Prftna, 81
Prav4hana Jaivali, 291
Pravritti (turning outward), 108,
411

Prayer, 46, 493; highest Advaita,
857; to self, 40-42; who answers,
808;

Presbyterian, 364
Priest(s). 28, 46, 68, 114, 139, 226,
820, ne, 389; -craft, 115, 320,
881; why conservative, 867
Pre^ss, 147, 859; its hastening,
18-19; of humanity, 18; as
multiplication of wants, 172; of
race and individual, 18 ; from
truth to truth, 365
Progression, 107

Pzophet(s). 15, 108, 226. 352,
874, 878, 886; according to
Yogis. 19; of Arabia, 852-58;
came to fulfil, 116; their proof
is our prophetship, 807-08;
-soul, 806

Protestants, 88-89; symbols and
rkufds of, 89

530

SWAMl VIV£RANANDA*$ WORKS

Psychical power, 12; unity, 31
Psychological Yoga (see RSja-

Psychology, 29, 265, 265, SOS,
386-87, 432-33, 435-36, 438, 441,
452, 455-56; its practical appli-
cation, 27; practical, directed
to controlling unconscious, 34-
35; of SAnkhya, 436-40; two
parts of its study — unconscious
and superconscious, 85
PurAnas. 190,319
Puritans, 373

Purusha, 438, 450-53, 455 57,

460; as an attraction, 451*52:
many, 452
Pyramids, 58
Pythagoras, 445, 455

Qualihed monism (see Vishish-
tAdvaita), 90, 490
Qualified non-dualists (see Vi*
shishtAdvaita), 245-47

Rajas, 433-34, 454
RAja-Yoga, 185, 390-91; a science
of psychical powers, 12
RAja-Vo^i, 388

RAmakrishna (indirect references
to him), lived the life of hu-
manity, 19; and parable of
thief and gold, 46
Real and ideal, 293-95
Realisation, 154-74, 280, 284, 315,
336, 472: man of, 284-85, 474;
is religion, 43, 372, 396, 474; its-
social good, 286-88; struggle
for, 36-37; way out of MAyA,
318

Realism, 89, 163, 333
Reality, 134, 154, 156, 165, 168,
174, 184, 805, 358, 401, 420,
465; Absolute, 32; search for,
72

Reason, 162, 446-47, 454, 459;
limitation of, 389-90, 397, 449-
50; and religion, 335-36, and
Yoga, 389

Rebirth (see reincarnation), 234
Recognition, 446
Redemption, 481
Reformer(s), 38, 93-94; denounc-
ing and constructive, 116-17;
iconoclastic, 884

Reincarnation, 217, 256-58, 279,

Reincamation-^*Con(d.

849-50, 497-98; arguments for
and against, 217-25; and hered-
ity, 441

Religion(s), 88, 150-51, 198-94,
465, 474, 480, 484. 491, 494,
503, 507, 510; its action and
reaction, 873-74; advancing
towards freedom, 125; are
attempts at getting beyond
nature, 103, 126; awAening to,
46; basis of, 477; its beginning
—supernatural, ancestor wor-
ship, personification of nature,
transcendence of limitation of
senses, . 57-60; begins with
Nivritti, dissatisfaction, 108,

' 123-24; . believe in Unit
Abstraction, *61-62; death as
beginning of, 70; definition of,
68; dynamic, 492, 494, 496;
each has a mission, 371-72; and
faith, 162-63; of future, 140;
glimpse of, through dream,
59; God, devotion and worship
in, 38; all are good, 483; in
India, 492; and life, 144-46,
291, 300-01; a life power, 359-

> 61; manifestation of soul
nature, 478; of masses, 241, 245;
as motive power, 66-67;
necessity of, 57-69; not con-
tradictory but supplementary,
365; not words, doctrines, or
intellectual assent, 40-41, 43-44;
' its object, morality, 17; and
Personal God, 38; is positive
and not negative, 502; a potent
force, 57; practical ana not,
298; a practical science, ^ 317;
racial, 352; is realisation, 43,
163-67, 285, 396, 474; and
reason, 335-36; and renuncia-
tion, 100; and science, 140;
spiritual side of, 497; spread-
ing, 361-62; stages of, 500 ;
temples and churches are
kinaeigaiten of, 43; its three
parts philosophy, mythology,
ritual, 377; three things com-
mon in all— symbols, names,
god-men, 42; tribal ideas of,
67-68; two tests of, 330-84;
union of, 479; universal (see
universal reli^n) ; its use,
98-99; a way out of MAyA,
123-24; worla wants a tower,
509

INDEX

m

Rdlg^ut* Iftedom ia Englind
and India* 114^15; itniggle and
hannony* a75-76» ddS-M;
feachen and plukNioplim« 16;
three Btqn in its thought^ 252
Renunciation* 56-37* 161* 175-74*
554; hackg^und of ethics 62«
65; is tminning of religion.
100; defined* 62* 99-100)1 is
giving up* 524; means dd^ca-
tion of world* 146
Rig-Veda* 58* 72* 176* 455; per-
sonification of natural phenom-
ena in* 59
Rishis. 27* 60* 140
Ritual(ism)* 38* 41* 189* 575.

577-79* 582-85. 592-95
Roman(s). 515
Roman Cathdic* 555
Rome* 165* 481; all roads lead to*
585; marriage in* 504
Russia* 517

Sacrifices* 160* 514* 406
Saginaw* 480

Saginaw Courier-Herald, 484 •
Saginaw Evening News, 482
Sakshi (see God* witness)
Salvation, 587* 477* 481; accord-
ing to dualists* 243-45
Samhita* 58* 89* 104* 158* 319;
its heaven* 516

Samsara (round of births and
deaths)* 259

Samsklra (see impression)* 255-
56* 258* 268
Samuel* 510
Sanatkumara* 528
Sankh^* 252* 239* 455-55* 441;
philosophy* 442-55 ; a rasumd
of* 454-57; and Vedanta* 454-
62

Sankocha (shrinking)* 427
Sannyasin* 200

Sanskrit* 10* 20* 32* 60* 77* 81*
108* 109* 235* 255-56, 259*
588* 406* 423-26, 450* 455* 497*
511* 512
Satan* 241

Sat-Chit-Ananda (see Existence).
194

Sattva* 493-34, 454
Satyakama* 509-12
Savage* 26* 28; spiritual savage*
49

Scandinavians* 59

Schopenhauer* 511; and Indian
philosophy* 445-46; his fdiiloso-
phy* 191* 419

Sctom* 20-25* 507* 510-11;

collects facts* generalises* can-
not deny facu* 20; imitates
nature* 118-19; of mind* 22-25*
and religion* 69* 140* 452-55*
sutic and dynamic in, 264-65
Secret of Death* 155
Sects* 52* 67-68* 258-59* 245-46*
299* 559-64* 569-70* 579* 389-84,
886-87*> 592-95; their dispute
about God, 43-44; in India*
568; are a sign of religious
life* 565-64

Sectarianism* outcome of dual-
ism* 522

Self (see Atman), 134, 152* 167*
169* 175* 189* 216* 255* 249-55*
274-75. 283-85* 329* 554* 344*
355* 557* 380* 594-95* 404* 416-
22, 458* 451* 460-61* 468* 471*
472 ; becomes the Infinite* 55 ;
beyond causation (see causa-
tion) ; -concentration* 55* its
essence God* 195 ; eternal sub-
ject and witness* 82 ; is every-
thing* 918; everything known
through* 505 ; Gm* your own*
82* 128-29* 279; -identity*

541-42; -ishness* 559-54; love
^ for the sake of* 51 ; love
through* 416-17 ; many, 499-
40 ; Its nature* 183-84* 409-
13 ; one* 294-55 ; only motive
power* 417 ; realisation of* 56,
w; to be heard of* reasoned
about* meditated on* 417* 419-
20

Semitic* 504

Senses* 214* 452 ; control of* 185 ;
desires *of* 161 ; enjoyment of*
170-71 ; limitation of* 156
Sermon on the Mount* 164* 555*
586

Shakuntala, 512

Shankara (ShankaiichArya)* 56;
his intellect* 140* 145 ; and
M4y4* 89; saved India* 159
Sharira (see body), Sthula*
Sukshma (or Linga), 424* 458*
456

Sbistras* 416
Shiva, 45
Shruti* 445

Shvetaketu* 194* 291-92* 519* 328-
29* 554

SWAMl VIVEKANANDA^S WORKS

ShvetdshvaUra Ummlsliad, 88
Sin, 295-96, 299-SOO, $0i, 856,
471 ; weakness is, 908
Sleep, 60

Smith College, 488
Social, freedom in Englknd and
India, 114-15; opinion makes
moral, 164; stru^le, 959
Social organisation, 115, 859 ;
religion as background of, 57 :
restraint as basis of, 109

Society, 252, 906; began 1800
years ago, the theory that, 27-
28 ; doing good to, 6S>64 ; and
truth. 84-85 ; Western, 85

Soul (see Atman), 9, 6, 40, 49.
46, 61, 75, 85, 119, 199-94, 140,
141, 157, 168, 175, 182, 184,
186, 197, 212, 214-17, 221, 229-
24. 292, 286, 258, 260-61. 294,
802, 908, 917-18, 822, 991, 840,
956, 872, 422. 457-62. 477-78.
491, 501-02, 508-09; according
to Advaita, 248-59, 268-71, 275-
88, 948, 499 ; according to
Buddhists, 271-78, 941-49, 945 ;
according to dualists, 240, 242,
268-71, 846-50 ; according to
Kapila, 440; according to qual-
ified non-dualists, 246-47 ; all
powers within, 849 ; best
teacher, 985 ; and body, 945,
848 ; beyond causation, (see
causation) ; as chariot rider,
409-10; freedom of. 189-202,
224, 282, 440, 477 ; gives unity
to changes, 267, 274-75, 277-78;
God your own, 81-82; has no
birth or death, 277; human,
495, 499-500; its idea expands,
127-28; its immortality, 226-27,
281; individual, 946-48; individ-
uality ^f, 477; many. 457; its
nature, 216-17. 957-58, 419-15;
nature, manifestation of, 478;
and Nature and Gpd, 421-29;
omnipresent, 277; is one, 274-
75; perfected. 245; of souls,
189, 192. 905-06, 895-96, 401-02,
490; study of, 959; three goals
for, 269-71; transmigration of,
478, 4M, 482; universal, 469;
of universe, 296-97

South Afdca, 959
South Sea Islands, 851
Spaniard(B), 482, 519
Spencer, Herbert, 942

Sphm— solar, lunar, Hghtnhig^
etc., 269, 279

Spirit (see Atman), 87, 78-79* 89-
85. 174, 486, 478, 501; a ddu^
Sion, 197; k rmil individuat, 81
Spiritual, attraction, 46 ; body
(see body) ; organisation, 859 ;
and practical, 64
Spirituality, the mainspring of
strength of every race, 65;
j^racucal 24-57 ; and symbols.

Strength, 202, 899 ; assert iti, 409-
04; is life, 9: respective stand-
ard of, 25-26; truth dves, 201;
and weakness, 299-9(%, 405
Subconscious, 449, 446-47, 449-
50; replaces consciousness, 89
Subject and object, 490
Substance and quality, 991-82,
941-45; are one, 944-45
Success, its secret, 4
Sukshma Sharira (see Sharira)
Sun, 499

Suptfconscious, 449, 446-47, 449-
50; the goal, 95; perception of.

Super-, divine, 6-7; human, 7
Superimposition, 198-94
Supernatural, powers, belief in,
lO; in the mind of man, 12
Superstition, 114, 125, 199-202,
217-18, 248. 294, 902-04, 968,
978, 987, 420-21, 489; scientific
and religious, 28, 78
Sushumnd, 90, 95
Svazga, 176
Symbolism, 87
Symbology, 109

Symbols, 98-40, 42, 814, 918, 878-
79; banning of religion, 46-
47; helpful within limits, 99-40
Systems, converge to perfect
union, 59

Tamas, 499-84. 454
Tanm^tras, 496-97. 444, 454
TanUlus, 110-11
Tartar, 509
Tat Tvam Asi, 296
Teacher, 18; all aie, 84; hit
duty, 885; rdigious, 15, 29
Telas (friction), 486; 498
Telepathy, 19
TheisUc 494: religion, 990
Theology, 210. 214, 958, 488
Itminas k Xempk, 807

INOSX

519

Them an That* m, 296* 268*
294* 929* 894* 998-89
Thoueht* 90* 240* 948^ 454; auto-
matic* 94; clath of* 964; control
over action and, 17* difference
is sign and soul of* 965, 882;
limitation of* 897; and matter*
75-76; as molecular changes*
298; positive and paralysing*
86-87; propdling force, 152;
-transference, 18 ; universal,
265 : and word inseparable,
41; and work, 86
Tibet, 178-79, 384, 509
Time, space and causation, 32,
91. 112, 190, 192, 185-96, 176-
77. 276. 494* 461* 466; in mind.
78

Toleration* 974

Transmigration (see reincarna-
tion)* 279

Trinity, doctrine of, 511
Truth, 87. 184, 829, 884, 858.
405, 469, 509, 512; covered by
mist, 88; 1 am, 154; practical,
84-85; and society, 84-85; its
standpoints* 966; for truth's
sake, 405; utility not its test,
83; is within us, 927
Tyndall, 74. 218

Unconscious, conscious- is the
cause of, 95: control of* 94-85;
its power of good and evil, 95
United States, marriage in, 101
Unity, 91; in diversity, 175-88;
realisation of, 420; in variety,
881-88

Universal, 988; body, mind (see
mind), etc., 440, 460; brother-
hood. 967, 976* 979.-80; Hindu
search for 269; mind, ^7; and

S articular, 541; its realisation,
59-74; religion, 141, 959-96;
truth, 966; its watchword —
acceptance, not exclusion, 974;
we are, 419; is you, 414
Universe (see world), 50, 258-59,
481. 509; Absolute bcGomes,
190; according to Advaita, 252,
276, 461-62, 479; according to
Buddhists* 271^75; of balance*
26; as body of God* 246-47*
419, 490; composed of time*
space and causation, 466; a
changing mass of matter* an
ocean thought* 276; comes

Universe— Contd.
from* rests in* meltt into hnee*
dom* 125; do^ not exist* 248;
human soul its centre* 157;
hurrying to return to equilih-
rium* 275; its internal and
external explanation* 155-57; a
mass of change* 274-75; is
M9y8» 109* 276; is name and
form* 41* 276; nature of

111-12; one* 91-92* 276* 909;
its plan — unity in variety*
981; progressive, 455; a. sym-
bol, 40-41; tapers into God, 16;
its three parts — gross, fine and
God, 426; uniformity of its
laws, 425; is a wave and a hol-
low, 26, 229; why imperfect,
449; a mere play, 470
Unselhshness, 352-54; cause of
victory, 5; is good, 91
Upakosala, Kamaliyana, 811-12
Upanishad(s) (see ChhAndogya*
Katha and ShveUshvatara), 88-
89, 117, 199, 146* 170* 189-84*
189-91* 195* 290, 905* 912-18*
316* 319, 411; -their germs Jn
Samhit&s, 105; their poetry, 140
Utilitarian, 63-67, 170-71; theo-
ries, their limitation.

Utility, 83-84, 170 ; ethical laws
cannot be derived from, 63-64

Vaishya, 508
Varanasi, 184
Varuna, 176, 525
V2yu (vibration), 436, 438
Veda(s), 60, 89* 115, 124, 158-59,
167, 175-76, 184, 189, 209, 205*
238, 246, 252, 297, 821, 334,
396, 974, 406, 409, 412-18, 427^
490-91, 501. 504-05, 507-08;
ceremonial and knowledge
parts of, 314; how regarded,
169, revealed and eternal, 299
Vedanta. 98-99, 111, 192, 194,
165, 167, 174. 179-82, 184. 190,
194, 198, 200, 239, 245, 247,
259, 271, 284, 406, 412, 429*
507 » 509; Advaita* 105; a bold
philosophy, 113-14 ; and
Buddha* 198-99; and deification
of world* 146-50; does not de-
stroy, but explains, 812; and
evil* 144-47* 168: for all* 199-
200* 288; and God* 104* 128;
harmonises and discovers unity*

534

SWAMl V1V£KANANDA*$ WORKS

Vedanta — Contd,

106, 115, 117, 125. 346; monis*
tic (see monistic); neither pes*
simistic nor optimistic, 97, i02,
179>81; not agnostic, 180; its
pillar M4y4, 88; Practical, 291*
358; its prayer, 202; recognises
no sin, 295; and Schopenhauer,
131; teaches charity and^ love,
507; its theme, oneness of life,
153, 297, 312; its use, 98-99;
and work, 149-50
Vedantlc dualists, 240-41
Vedantist(-in), 104, 144, 164,
194, 239-40, 252, 268, 402, 438,
453; finds God and men are
one, 104; three schools of, 239
Vedic, hymns, 60; literature, 88,
189-90; morality, 161; philos-
ophy and science, 88-89;
sacrifices. 160
Vcgetarian(s), 244, 298
Vijnana, 459
VikAsha (expanding), 427
Virtue and vice, 299
VishishtAdvaita (see qualified
monism), 413, 430
Vishnu, 43-44
Viveka, 304

Vivekananda, Swami, 477, 482,
486, 488, 490-93, 503, 507, 509-
10, 513, 515; not a believer in
miracles, 498; on Christians,
484-85; on India, 479-81; his
personality and features, 494;
on prayer, 493

Vivekananda, Swami, (his person-
al reminiscences), and agnostic
with orange, 186; as a boy
criticised asceticism, 25; and
Brahmin of Hyderabad, 11-12;
his childhood aspiration, 165;
his days I of austerity, 403; his-
idea of changing places, 184;
he "learns alK>ut ends and
means, 1; his lecture in Lon-
don, 27; and man who answer-
ed questions, 10-11; and man
who saw in another room, 19;
at Marseilles, 23; his meeting
with a Mormon, 368; sees
mirage, 281-82; took thirty
years to learn science of mind,
22; when his father died, 181
Vritti, 438

Vrooman, brothers, 493-95;

Hiram, 494; Walter, 494
VyAsa, 445

Waking state, 59-60
Washington Post, 479
Weakness, 200-01, 302, 304, 339,
357-58; is cause of misery, 196;
is death, .3; leads to slavery
and misery, 3; its remedy, is
thinking of strength, 300; and
strength differ in dmee, 299
West, 21, 27, 85, 93, 190, 238,
386, 444, 448, 479, 517; atheists
in the, 44; and East, 185-86;
excels in institution, etc., 362;
makes too much of death* 31;
religion in, 477; have to learn
toleration from India, 481
Widow(s), 513-14
Will, 131, 233, 356-57, 450; and
instinct, 221; limitation of,
397-98, 450; and Schopenhauer,
445-46

Woman, as courageous as man,
26; Christian and Mohammed-
an, 506; her non-marriage in
West, 93-94; her power of
suffering, 26; her purity in
India, 505; street-walking, a
saviour, 34; her widowhoM in
India, 93-94; -hood in India
and the. West, 506
Word, was God, 41; and thought
inseparable, 41

Work, 385-88, 391-92; according
to GitA, 1-2; its end and
means, 1; and its secret, 1-9;
secret of success in, 1, 4; for
work’s sake, 500-02
World (see universe), 7, 9, 111,
259-60; its apparent existence.
32; not create two or three
thousand years ago, 27 ; deifica-
tion of, 146, 149, 167; exists in
relation to mind, 91; giving up
of, 148; is good if we are good,
9; its misery chronic, 171-
72; a mixture of good and
evil, 97, 179-81; has neither
existence nor non-existence,
32, 91; is one. 3.1; a prison-
house, 122; Tantalus’s hell,
110-11; we see it as we are, 87
Worship, 320-22, 358, 373; is
feeling of holiness of God, 478;
of name, 41-42; not wrong,
327; of personages, 42; it is
universal, 38*41; for worship’s
sake, 502

Worshipper, evtdution of, 107
Writers, modem, 473

1 -

INDEX

59ft

YftjiiaYallLya and Maitreyl, 416-28
Yataa, 15d. 160» 167, 169, 406-11
Yoga (see Bhakti, Jnftna, Karma
and R5ja Yogas), culminatioa
of, 56; lU four divisions, 888-
96; meaning of, 888; prepara-
tion for, 86; science of, 16; as
science of the study of mind,
19

Yo^<s), 18, 185, 209, 888-96,

445-46, 457; cure diseases by
re-establishing rhythm of

Y<]^(s>-^onfd.

Pr5na, 81; Incarnations and
Prophets are, 19; real, 35-86;
sects of, 21; their three nerve
currents, 30
Yudhishthira, 93

2^nd-Avesta, 490
Zlmzim, 81
Zoroastrianism, 361